Nordin explains how glass products are formed

DEARBORN — This weekend, the Glass Academy hosted its eighth annual Glass Pumpkin Fest, allowing visitors to witness live demonstrations and see how glass pumpkins are hand-crafted and formed.

The event, which took place at the Glass Academy’s gallery on Oct. 8 and 9 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., invited people to step into a harvest wonderland filled with pumpkins, corn stalks and hay bales. The demonstrations will continue this weekend on Oct. 15 and 16, as well as the following weekend at Downtown Home and Garden in Ann Arbor.

The Glass Academy is located at 25331 Trowbridge St. Typically, employees spend so much time molding and forming its glass products that they are not able to explain what goes into the time-consuming process. On occasion, that changes.

Attendees can watch live demonstrations of the glassblowing process.

“We always had a big Christmas event and we wanted to do something in exploring and creating experiences for the different seasons,” said Chris Nordin, who co-owns the company with his wife, Michelle Plucinsky. “It’s important to us to make sure that the community can get in here and have a blast.”

He also said the Glass Pumpkin Fest takes about a year to plan.

“It’s a never-ending process that’s constantly evolving,” Nordin said. “Every year we want to make it better, and every year we create a new signature pumpkin.”

This Saturday and Sunday, the Glass Academy will display its signature pumpkin of 2016: the frost pumpkin.

In addition to the Pumpkin Fest, six or seven other programs are held throughout the year, including Christmas events, Easter shows and Custom Mug Nights, where people are invited to bring drinks or snacks and watch their own custom mugs being made.

People can also purchase generic products like vases and bowls.

The turnout for this weekend’s signature show and sale is expected to be even larger than this past weekend. Nordin said the 250 to 300 frost pumpkins that are made will sell out quickly.

Leslie Cislo, an employee who helped with the demonstrations, said pumpkins are made year round.

“We probably make between 5,000 and 7,000 pumpkins a year,” she said. “It’s fun to share information and to let people see what we do.”

Event goers were excited to be part of the Pumpkin Fest and purchase products for their homes.

Dearborn resident Andrea Abbott and Plymouth resident Scott Hay found out about the event from Dearborn Brewing, which Abbott said uses mugs made by the Glass Academy.

“I’m just glad we found this place. It’s really cool,” Hay said. “She’s going to be here seasonally for everything they have. She’s already looking at the Christmas stuff.”

Abbott wants to come back for next year’s pumpkin event and Hay said he is planning on taking a group of friends to one of the Glass Academy’s Custom Mug Nights.

“They actually have a Christmas ornament class where you make your own Christmas ornaments,” Abbott said. “It’s a super cool place. We would have never known it was here if we hadn’t gone to the brewery and seen the glasses.”

Livonia residents Bob and Evelyn King also bought a box full of pumpkins, both for themselves and as gifts.

“I love seeing what they create,” Evelyn said. “It’s lovely that they have this for the community and I appreciate that everything here is American made.”

The community-focused event brought in people from Dearborn and surrounding cities, which was the ultimate goal of the show.

“That’s what the whole business is about – community interaction and giving people the best glass experience they’ve ever had,” Nordin said. “One of the things I really like about what we do is that everybody who comes in here is happy. They’re so excited because of what they saw and they learn something.”