Blown glass animal figurines is a work of art that Mr. Noi, showcased in this interview, has accomplished to run as a successful manufacturing business. Over 20 years ago, he traveled to Chiang Mai from his hometown of Phayao to work as an apprentice in hand blown glass works. Then when the Thai government started the Chiang Mai Sunday Walking Street project, a weekly night market held in the heart of the city, one of the requisites from the organizers was that the products sold must be handmade. So, he thought that since he already had some experience with glass animal ornaments, he could use his newly found expertise to launch his startup business right here at the crafts market.
Starting was not easy as he had to do a lot of experiments to get so many different shapes of animal figurines. For example, he sometimes gets an idea from his clients who order from him, researched online, or even by his own imagination and creativity. Blown Glass Miniature Animals requires skills and a very sharp and careful imagination otherwise the animal’s shapes might turn out to be something else! His bestselling design is the elephant which takes around 15 minutes to make per piece. But as the clear or colored glass animal figure changes, such as with a dragon, there’s more complexity and detail involved with the handiwork, so he must place more attention and delicacy in his work of creation, which naturally takes more time. Hand blown glass jewelry such as earrings is also part of his production portfolio.
In this 2nd part video, Mr. Noi heartedly shows us many of his artistic designs and what kind of animal figures and blown glass earrings he has made for selling in his wholesale and retail business. There are several ways of getting the products colored. For example, some of the items are painted after the products are created, and for some items, the colors were mixed inside the glass prior to production which makes it more challenging to create. And some pieces use a mixture of both coloring techniques. With his imaginative skills and talents, he was able to make over a hundred different kinds of animals. Some of them come in a set of families, and some come as a single individual piece. Mr. Noi said during his glass blowing process, he needs to make the body of the animals first and then followed by other parts of the body, such as the limbs. But most importantly, in order to have the perfect shape of animals, every part of the body needs to have the same and equal temperature during the blowing process otherwise the animals will break. Fixing a broken piece is way harder than making a new one. Hope you enjoyed seeing all his works of art of blown glass animals and jewelry, and in the next episode Part 3 he will explain and demonstrate to us in more detail the glassblowing manufacturing process where he makes them right here in Chiang Mai, Thailand for his wholesale and export business operation.
Meet The Maker
Blown Glass Animal Figurines Wholesale Supplier and His Available Designs
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