Seeing more glassblowers skip the apprentice stage lately

It seems like folks are jumping straight into selling pieces without proper mentoring. This makes me worry about safety and skill quality.

3 comments

3 Comments

coracarter27d ago

Yeah, and like @uma668 said, this openness lets in new styles we'd never see otherwise. The craft evolves when it's not just one way in.

robert_anderson6921d ago

Oh man, this whole "old ways vs new ways" fight is like watching someone argue that you can only learn to cook from a certified chef... while I'm over here making a decent omelet from a YouTube video. @uma668 has a point, the info is out there now. Sure, some stuff from the old school is lost, but the trade-off is more people getting to try. The gatekeeping just gets silly after a while. If the work is good, who cares how they learned?

uma66827d ago

Honestly, I see this differently. Sticking to the old apprentice model can gatekeep the craft. Plenty of talented people learn safely from online tutorials and small workshops now. The basic skills aren't some secret mystery anymore. If someone is making solid work and selling it, that drive counts for a lot. This change just makes the art more open to new voices who might not have access to a traditional master. Their passion and results matter more than how they got there.