Hailey Suydam can take the heat. Not just any heat, 2200 degree heat. That is about the standard furnace temperature it takes to blow glass, and Suydam, just a year onto the blown glass scene, is making pieces that have customers coming back for more.
Hailey lives with her parents, Jim and Darcy Lees, in Saline when she is not away in school at Bowling Green State University. She is a sophomore Art major there, with a minor in Psychology. This past weekend she had one more chance to sell some of her blown glass art before returning to college, while participating in a fundraiser garage sale in Saline.
She recently worked on a glass blowing team doing a demonstration at the Toledo Museum of Art. "It's kind of like a dance," Suydam says, "you need to know where to be at just the right time." The art of glass blowing is intense. It's all about timing, using the right temperatures, cooling time limits, oven doors being opened and closed in perfect order. Suydam has also worked with the region's well renowned artist/ glass blower Leonard Marty.
She likes creating sculptures best, but didn't have any available at Saturday's sale. What she did have on hand didn't stick around long. By 3PM she had all but three pieces sold, and one customer coming back to the table again and again, debating on whether a particular glass vase would compliment her living room decor.
