Disappearing acts: How to blow glass

From left: Bruce Marks, Layne Rowe and Louis Thompson at the London Glassblowing Workshop Photograph: Sarah Lee

Thompson and Marks in the process of making a glass bowl Photograph: Sarah Lee

The glass is melted from white sandy pellets in a furnace and gathered on a rod known as a "punty" iron Photograph: Sarah Lee

The furnace, where temperatures reach 1,200C Photograph: Sarah Lee

Molten glass on a blowing rod Photograph: Sarah Lee

Thompsons blowing molten glass. Because the glass is so hot, the air expands and creates a bubble Photograph: Sarah Lee

A piece of blown glass Photograph: Sarah Lee

Thompson uses a "jack" – an enormous set of iron tweezers – to shape some molten glass Photograph: Sarah Lee

Wads of wetted paper are also used in shaping molten glass Photograph: Sarah Lee

Tools of the glassblowing trade Photograph: Sarah Lee

The finished articles Photograph: Sarah Lee

A grey London sky reflected through the glass sphere in a vase Photograph: Sarah Lee