Temper Chi Glass Art Studio

Description

Temper Chi is a glass art studio.  (You'd have never guessed that from the fact that their full name includes the words "Glass Art Studio".  That's why the wiki is here, folks.)  They make and sell glass art, and they also teach classes in making it yourself.  An ordinary person can, with patience and less hardware than you might expect, learn to make beads, marbles, small bottles, goblets, pendants, and other nifty things.  You can choose to work either in soft glass (also referred to as soda glass; most everyday glass is soft glass), or in hard glass (borosilicate glass; Pyrex is a brand of borosilicate glass).  Soft glass comes in more colors, melts at a lower temperature, and has a lot longer history (at least 4,000 years or so), while hard glass is more tolerant of temperature shock, and is less likely to get "over-cooked" while being worked.  (If you're a glass-worker, don't send me hate mail.  This just isn't the place for a dissertation on devitrification.)  There are a number of schools in the area that will teach this sort of thing; this is the one closest Ames.

Main Web Site

http://www.temperchi.com/

Location

973 Linda Vista Avenue, Suite C, Mountain View, CA

Drive Time

from Ames

(per Google maps): 7 minutes

Public Transit

This is around a mile and a half from the Moffett Field main gate.  That's close enough to be a reasonable walk, assuming you're not carry 80 pounds of glass or something.  It's 30 minutes or so at an easy walk, considerably less than that on a bike.

Hours

Studio hours are somewhat erratic.  (It's a working glass shop, not a school.)  Classes are usually in the evenings after 5 PM, or on weekends 10 to 4.

Cost

Around $300 for 12 hours of class time.