Hot Sand Glass Studio opens in downtown Asbury
"Mesmerizing, unusual, foreign" art form finds new home on Cookman
Novice glass-blowers and curious passersby can now create colorful glass art in Asbury Park’s downtown.
Hot Sand Glass Studio recently opened its doors at 550 Cookman Ave. For the past seven years, the half-gallery-half-workspace operated out of a storefront on the boardwalk.
Hot Sand is likely the only place in the country where patrons can blow their own glass sculptures, according to studio co-founder Thomas Stevens.
“Everyone has memories from when they were younger seeing a glass-blowing demonstration,” Stevens said. “But you could never get that close to it. We felt there didn’t need to be that much distance between people and glass.”
The glass is heated to 2,100 degrees until it is in a molten state, and Hot Sand employees help customers blow glass into bubbles [pictured above], vases and drinking glasses. Customers can pick up their creations a week later.
Stevens and co-founder Paul Elyseev started Hot Sand after they worked together in Elyseev’s own glass-blowing studio in his Ocean Grove home. A glass-blower always requires an assistant to help with the process, so Stevens began to assist Elyseev in exchange for studio time of his own.
Elyseev moved out and needed a place to keep his equipment. The two saw a space available on the boardwalk and decided to open up shop in June
Stevens worked as a graphic designer for years before he picked up glass-blowing. He wanted to partake in an art form that allowed him to use his hands after working with a computer for so many years. Ironically, he fell in love with yet another art form where the artist cannot touch the actual piece until it is complete, he said.
Stevens and Elyseev decided to move from the boardwalk to the downtown in part for financial reasons after rents at the boardwalk began to creep up. Their new location also has higher ceilings, which helps offset the heat of the 2,100-degree oven in their workspace. They also hope to enjoy more business from passersby who are unencumbered by beach chairs and umbrellas at their new location.
Hot Sand’s glass-blowing experience is popular with people of all ages, and sees a lot of business from children’s birthday parties, Stevens said.
“You’re involved in the glass-blowing process” at Hot Sand, he said. People find the molten glass fascinating — “as a medium, it’s mesmerizing, unusual and foreign,” he said.
Their studio has become especially popular as a field trip destination for art classes. Some schools even hold fundraisers for a chance to visit Hot Sand. In the seven years Hot Sand has been in existence, Stevens recalls only one student saying he wasn’t interested in the process.
The studio also functions as a gallery for the glass art of its employees, who create art pieces ranging from glass ocean waves to pigs with wings. The employees and co-founders are avid glass art enthusiasts who attend workshops on the art form throughout the country.
Hot Sand also provides workshops for those who are interested in learning more about the glass-blowing process. Hot Sand Glass Studio’s gallery at 550 Cookman Ave. is open Wednesday through Sunday. Walk-in appointments are available Friday from 3 to 8 p.m.; Saturday from noon to 8 p.m.; and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m. For more information, see the studio’s website at http://www.hotsandap.com/ or its Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/HotSandAP.
