Josh Merritt is a Sinclair Community College student with a hobby that some may consider unusual \u2014 glass blowing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like working with the glass. You can play with it and do so many millions of different things,\u201d Merritt said. \u201cThere\u2019s always something new, always something interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said he has been interested in the skill since he took a trip to the Dayton Art Institute as a child and saw a glass exhibit. When he got older, an established glass smith looking to start a glass shop moved near his neighborhood. Merritt took the opportunity to become his apprentice.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started as an apprentice under the master glass smith, James Michael \u2026 and he introduced me to the craft,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was a sudden event and I decided to go for it and see how it went and I never regretted that decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
Merritt said he finds the process relaxing, because if you divide your attention during the process of creating a piece, the glass may not come out as intended.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour full attention is there and it has to be there,\u201d Merritt said. \u201cIn that sense, it is kind of relaxing because you can\u2019t stop to think about anything else because your piece is going to crack. It\u2019s going to break on you because if you\u2019re not paying attention, it\u2019ll bite you \u2014 every time. You really have to be there 100 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition, he said it\u2019s a dangerous process.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can really, really burn yourself \u2014 I have burnt myself,\u201d Merritt said. \u201cI guess everything is dangerous. Jim (Michael) actually likes to say that everything in the shop can either burn or cut you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Merritt has been practicing glass blowing for four years and has made more than 100 pieces; he enjoys seeing how the piece will come out.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like Christmas,\u201d Merritt said. \u201cEvery single time. You put something in there that you really like and would really like to see and it\u2019s like having to wait for a present. And you come in the next day and \u2026 it\u2019s like seeing the presents under the tree and I\u2019ve never lost that feeling. It\u2019s the same feeling every time.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said he goes to the glass shop after school two to three times a week to create new pieces, and teaches a glass blowing class along with Michael on the weekends.<\/p>\n
\u201cI go there quite frequently, [it\u2019s] a fun experience and every time I tell someone about it, it\u2019s always a mixed reaction between disbelief and amazement,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The shop will open in October and Sinclair students can receive a 10 percent discount on a glass blowing class with a Tartan ID. For more information, call Michael at (937) 567-9966<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you respect it, it\u2019ll work just fine for you,\u201d Merritt said. \u201cIt\u2019s a really amazing art.\u201d<\/p>\n
If you or someone you know has an unusual hobby that they\u2019d like to share, email us at clarion@sinclair.edu<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Josh Merritt is a Sinclair Community College student with a hobby that some may consider unusual \u2014 glass blowing. \u201cI like working with the glass. You can play with it and do so many millions of different things,\u201d Merritt said. \u201cThere\u2019s always something new, always something interesting.\u201d He said he has been interested in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tartan-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5s3vR-2pd","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9251"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9252,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9251\/revisions\/9252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}