Our founder Sam, also known as @samiamglass, isn’t just a cannabis business owner. He’s also a talented glassblowing artist who got his start in the counterculture with glass. We stopped by Sam’s studio recently to watch him make a custom sherlock piece for our 4/20 giveaway.
Sam started blowing glass in 2001. He remembers the Justice Department’s Operation Pipe Dreams, which targeted glass blowers and put people in jail.
Having just celebrated 4/20, we feel optimistic about the end of prohibition. We are proud to be at the forefront of this industry and want to give back to our community with a giveaway. Congrats to the hundreds of entries and a huge congrats to @maddiemccoy26 for winning!
Read more about Sam’s glassblowing journey below.
How did you get into glassblowing?
I got into glassblowing first because I love smoking out of glass pipes. In the late-90’s I got into really loving glass and enjoyed using it for consumption. And then I met a glassblower and started buying and selling glass, and just fell in love with it. I would watch him make and sell all the pieces. Then I met a glass blower at Shambala music festival, and asked him if he would give me a lesson and he obliged so I took a glassblowing lesson. I put $2500 on my credit card to buy all my supplies and started Sam I Am Glassworks.
What is your favorite thing about blowing glass?
My favorite thing about blowing glass is the endless possibilities. I love that there’s an endless amount to learn about glassblowing, different techniques, it allows for a lot of creativity. There’s so many different ways to manipulate glass to do different objects. I feel like it’s something as a whole you would never master, and there’s just this endless journey you can go on with glass and learning.
What do blowing glass and running a cannabis business have in common?
I would say that glassblowing has always been a foundational part of the counterculture. When you’re making these pieces, you’re often times making something that turns into an object people use ritualistically, something that they end up caring a lot about, or that spends a lot of time with their friends. They’ve got this special pipe that carries all this meaning for them. So I find that, in terms of the connection with glass and cannabis, both of them carry those same things where people find connection together. Glass has been such an important part of the counterculture movement, glass was super illegal to do at one point, cannabis was illegal, so I think those two cultures have ran side by side and there’s been a lot of trail blazers, just people willing to stand up and be rebels and run against the grain of what may be the cultural norms.
Do you consume cannabis before blowing glass and if so, what’s your favorite consumption method and strain?
I really depends for me. I used to smoke a lot of weed before blowing glass and now as I’ve gotten older I don’t tend to consume as much, but when I do, I really enjoy Fractal Infused, I enjoy their sparkle drink. I really enjoy consuming drinks now, and prefer to make mocktails with them, and I get this amazing euphoric buzz, so that’s how I prefer to consume when I do.
What is some of the music you like to listen to while blowing glass? When we photographed you, you had some great music on.
I listen to a lot of drum and bass, liquid drum and bass. Camo & Krooked, Metric, Sub Focus, they’ve all got some good tracks with beautiful vocals.
What are some tips for people looking to get started in glassblowing?
Find a local glassblower, find somebody that’s already doing it, reach out to them, make a connection, get to know them, see if they’d be open to giving you a short lesson or if they offer lessons. There’s also so many resources on YouTube, but I would suggest making a connection with a local artist, see if you can sweep the floors in the shop, or see if there’s something you can do to serve them or help them out.
What has blowing glass taught you?
I would say one of the things it’s really taught me is the power of attachment. With glass you can work for hours and hours and hours on a piece, and have a color in that piece that decides to crack. Or where your colors in the clear aren’t mixing. So it’s taught me a lot of determination to work on something for hours, even a week, and then sometimes that thing will break. I’ve had to live in this place of not being attached, since glass breaks. And even when things break, I have to get up, try again, and work even harder.
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