Working with Glass at Patterson Glassworks in Mundelein, Illinois

Patterson Glassworks in Mundelein, Illinois offers hands-on experiences creating glass art. The hot glass studio offers classes, open houses and team building. Of course, the local artists create fabulous glass art as well! The studio provides the community with an incredible opportunity to understand how glass art is made not only by seeing it in action but trying it as well.

A variety of seasonal Open House Events throughout the year welcome the community into the studio to explore the world of glass art. We visited in October to make pumpkins. Other options throughout the year include shamrocks, icicles, pendants and more. Each Open House is first come first serve, so you may have to wait but the experience is so worth it. We did have to wait a little bit but enjoyed exploring glass art made in the studio that was for sale as well as watching others create with hot glass!

Beautiful locally made glass creations

The glass art is truly incredible and would make for fabulous locally made gifts. There is a special dark room where glow in the dark glass art is displayed. Stunning!

Glow in the dark glass art 

The overall process of creating glass art was so much fun! At first, I was nervous about holding on to hot glass even though it was at the other end of the pipe. The glass artists ease you into the process and help throughout. So, no worries -- just learning!

Gathering hot glass

There are several steps including gathering the glass, adding color, putting the glass into a mold and more.

Working with local artist Peter Patterson 

Artist Peter Patterson adeptly taught us how to work with glass. I am so amazed by how much we learned during our first try. Peter seemed to have a great time teaching students as well which really shows his love for his art and sharing it with the community.

The experience gives a fabulous taste of what it is like to work with hot glass. The glass does take a couple of days to cool in an annealer. We returned a couple of days later to pick up our pumpkins and voila:

Truly an educational and fun process -- I can't wait to try my hand at it again! This is a fun excursion for all and a unique experience. I highly recommend trying it and it is fabulous fun for families with kids ages 10 and older.

**Disclosure: No compensation was received for this post. All opinions are 100% my own.