Last week I had a small group/team of people (9 of us) in from out of town (a couple from out of the country) for business meetings. We usually try and find an interesting team building event in which everyone can participate to encourage non-work related interactions within the group. This time we decided to visit Monarch Glass Studio to learn how to make blown glass pumpkins. Everyone was immediately enthusiastic once I let the group know what we had planned. Afterwards, everyone was even more enthusiastic. Nothing like an activity where you come out of it with a nice piece of custom made blown glass that you participated in creating!The event took about 2.5 hours. After we arrived, Tyler (owner and glass blower extraordinaire) and his assistant showed us the glass blowing equipment and explained the safety aspects of blowing glass. They then showed us the process of what we would be doing and let everyone pick out their own glass colors to use in making a pumpkin. The process involved Tyler (or his assistant) gathering molten glass from the furnace, then handing the pipe to you. After rounding up the glass on the pipe a bit, you got to roll the glass in colored frit, then reheat and gather more frit if you wanted, reheat again and gather a second color on top ( if you so desired). At that point, Tyler shaped the glass, initiated the core bubble, and let it cool before dipping it back in the glass furnace to cover it with more glass to provide bulk for the body of your pumpkin. Then Tyler blew the fresh glass into what is referred to as an optic mold and attached a blow hose to the end of the pipe. While he shaped the pumpkin with tools, you blew into the hose to inflate the pumpkin as he instructs you. After that, he transferred the pumpkin to a stand (off the pipe) and his assistant brought a glob of glass that had been coated in the color of your choice for a stem, after being put into a small mold to give it a stem texture. This bit of glass was pushed onto the top of the pumpkin and pulled up to be wrapped around a small tube that you got to hold to make the stem curly. After that, the pumpkin was placed into an annealer to be cooled at a controlled temperature overnight. Done! Pumpkins were available for pickup the second day after making them. They all were placed in decorative bags with our individual names on them. Very nice.The participative approach that Tyler uses, allowing much more of a hands on experience, differs from some other places (e.g., Corning Glass Museum) where you really don’t get to do anything but blow once into the pipe during the process. I have first hand experience with this. Much better at Monarch.Tyler also did a short demonstration of how to blow an open form (i.e., a small decorative glass/tumbler) as several people wanted to know how that was done since it differs from making a pumpkin.As a team event, the experience was a great hit and very unique. We were also allowed to bring in refreshments as there was space and were tables provided for this. Tyler and his assistant were very friendly and answered all of the many questions we asked. I believe that Monarch also can host larger events where your group just watches demonstration blowing. I didn’t inquire about that much, since we were a small group.I (and my team) highly recommend stopping in and trying your hand at blowing some glass at Monarch. You will enjoy it!