Before exposing yourself to the hot shops, you need to be prepared with the basics of glassblowing. Equip yourself with the basic knowledge in this art and have yourself ready to learn glassblowing.

To start your glassblowing venture, make sure that you have the basic tools in glassblowing. The important things to have for you to be able to learn glassblowing are the following:

three types of furnaces (the basic furnace where to mix glass, a furnace to be used as glory hole, and a furnace as annealer to cool down your artworks)
quartz sand, limestone, potash and soda ash (the basic components of glass)
a blow pipe or blow tube (the most essential tool in glassblowing)
a flat sheet of steel or a slab of marble as your marver
shaping tools such as jacks, shears, paddle and some blocks (you can buy these from your art shops)
protective gears such as eye protectors, gloves, etc.
a wide space as your workshop

Now that you have these basic tools and equipment, you can now start making your artworks.

First is to set your furnace to the required temperature to mix and melt your glass. With the use of the blow pipe, gather a fair amount of the molten glass. Roll the ball of molten glass to your marver to create a cooler exterior for you to be able to shape your glass. Use your shaping tools to manipulate the shape of the glass. The glory hole will be used to reheat the glass in case it hardens. When you are finished with the shaping, add your finishing touches and put your artwork inside the third furnace to let it cool down.

The process can be as long as you can imagine but the finished product will be worth it.