BERLIN — Visitors to downtown Berlin have the chance to create a truly unique keepsake this holiday season.
For the past several years, Jeffrey Auxer Designs has hosted ornament-making classes.
“I came up with the idea to allow people to create something unique and different that they could give as a gift or keep forever,” Auxer said.
Although the initial process is intensive, Auxer insists the class is designed for people of all ages and skill levels; he even allows children as young as age 4 to participate in the creative process.
It all starts with a hot lump of glass.
“We get glass out of my furnace at 2,030 degrees,” Auxer explained. “Then we add whatever color the person has chosen, melt the color into the clear glass we have gathered out of the furnace, shape it up and pop a bubble into the glass to make it hollow.”
The artist then blows into the end of the pipe to make the little bubble expand into an ornament.
“I have created this class to be very simple and effortless,” Auxer said.
Auxer’s shop specializes in the same sort of one-of-a-kind blown glass creations participants will make in his ornament class.
He crafts everything from small coasters and ornaments to representations of animals, centerpiece bowls and hanging platters. Along with a large number of art on display, custom art can be commissioned.
Auxer hopes his class acts as the perfect springboard for a memorable holiday.
“I’d like this to be a fun and exciting experience that you will never forget,” he said. “This is my third year doing the ornament classes, and I cannot even begin to tell you how many people return each year to add to their collection or make new gifts.”
