Some of this year's most attractive Christmas ornaments are made at Bermuda Glass Blowing Ltd., a Bermudian-founded and owned business which, through an apprenticeship scheme, also trains locals in the art of glass blowing and flame working.

For those who are tired of mass-produced Christmas tree ornaments from China and Taiwan -- and would prefer to support Bermuda's own artists -- shoppers at the outlets at Queen Street Glass or the Craft Market at Dockyard can find a range of delicately fashioned glass balls, angels, Santas and sleighs, reindeer, Christmas stars, Santa-hatted tree frogs -- and even earrings with a festive twist.

Far more rewarding, however, is a trip to their Studio workshop at Bailey's Bay, where visitors can see their ornaments or Bermuda souvenirs being made.

Locals, as well as the hundreds and hundreds of tourists who visit the Studio each year, are also welcome to watch the fascinating processes involved in making glass objects.

Glass blowing is an ancient art rooted in science and handcraft that takes years to perfect. Besides owner and glass artist Mrs. Gayle Cooke, the Studio also employs Stephen Zawistowski, who trained in Venice, the mecca for glass artists and who is entitled to be called `Maestro', a singular honour bestowed only on the leaders in the art.

As a consequence, says marketing manager Mrs. Wendy Avery, Bermuda is one of the very few places in the world that teaches Italian glass making.

"Immigration requires that we train three Bermudians, but at the moment, we have five who are studying and working with us.'' Other apprentices include 1st year student Mr. Jody Mello, 3rd year Tanya Semos who is now concentrating in the area of colour technique, and part-time student Mr. Arthur Trott.

At the beginning of this month, their work was placed on show in the Queen Street store, with each student choosing their own theme or colour design in which to work.

And more fame awaits Bermuda Glass Blowing. Says Mrs. Avery, "The director of the Corning Museum of Glass in New York happened to be in Boston during Tourism's Bermuda Briefing. He has since told us that the museum wants to exhibit a section devoted to Bermudian glass making.'' She admits that much of their output is geared toward tourists, especially cruise ship visitors, so that volume takes precedence over what she calls `quality' pieces. Some of these, however, are very fine indeed.

As Bermuda Glass Blowing's brochure points out, the distinctive style and use of colour is most evident in the Maestro's beautiful Bermuda fish studies and other animals, as well as large bowls and decorative plates, jardinieres and, most memorably, his clown figures and Bermuda gombeys.

Maestro Zawistowski's design of the Bermuda Easter lily was created at the Studio, crafted by him and Mrs. Cooke, and presented to the Queen when she visited Bermuda earlier this year.

Most visitors are surprised when they first step into the Studio and experience for themselves, the intense heat in which the glass workers toil, for hours on end each day, to produce their one-of-a-kind pieces. The atmosphere is not only hot, but obviously demands that every worker, from the most junior apprentice to the Maestro himself, observe the most stringent safety rules. The furnaces, after all, can reach temperatures of 2,500 degrees! Mr. Alex Bubenzer, who went to art colleges in England, worked as a silversmith before he started at the Studio, learning what was, even for him, a totally new and intricate art form which he has grown to love.

Mr. Bubenzer, who says he has worked closely with the Maestro and "bombarded'' him with questions over the past few months, points out that the craft and art of glass work takes many years to perfect.

At the moment, he is tackling another aspect, that of flame, or lampworking.

Using rods of variously coloured glass from Italy, he heats them over the flame, melting just enough to make the glass pliable as it is shaped into various forms. It is fascinating to watch the painstaking, yet swift procedure by which a tiny reindeer is literally `pulled' into shape from this rod, with antlers, hoofs, and even a bright red nose, being fused from other rods. "No, I don't often hurt myself,'' he insists as the flame burns with an intensity that certainly keeps the casual visitor at arm's length.

Mr. Bubenzer explains that raw batch glass, which comes from spruce pine in North Carolina, and looks like greyish-green lumpish powder, is imported in large quantities: "At the end of each week we put in 500 lbs to fill up each furnace, which is turned up to 2,500 degrees -- the rest of the time it runs at about 2,100 to 2,300. That makes it molten -- nice and hot!'' He says the temperature is gradually lowered and at that point the glass is all melted, but like a soda pop, full of bubbles. "There are lots of fine bubbles at first and that's how you test to see if it's `cooked' enough, and you also judge by the colour. The bubbles get bigger and bigger so by the third day the glass looks pretty much clear and the colour is slightly greenish.'' The furnace itself is a mesmerising sight, a fiery orange inferno that throws its heat right across the large room. Because it takes some time to reach the required heat, the furnace burns constantly, being only closed down for service and/or replacement.

The colours which make Bermuda glass so distinctive are achieved by taking the hot glass (on the end of rods) to powdered glass colour which, says Mr.

Bubenzer, is like paint pigment, but very concentrated, and this is rolled Glass ornaments are hot stuff! From Page 18 colour. This is then thrust into the second furnace which fuses the heat into the glass. This furnace, incidentally, is called `the glory hole'. After the first application, another layer of glass, `the over-gather' seals the colour inside: "So the colours you see `trapped' inside a piece of glass are actually built up in layers.'' Mrs. Avery points out that they use lead-free and environmentally `friendly' materials, "natural trace elements and minerals, such as semi-precious stones, quartz and crystal, lapis lazuli and copper. We also use a mish-mash of mixing paints made from vegetable dyes.'' Mr. Tony Johns has been `blowing' glass for about 11 years in Bermuda, having had his own company in England before coming here. It is his job to put the first `bubble' in, which he blows through a long, hollow pipe. A lump of hot glass is stuck on the back and then flattened to make the base. The glass is ball-shaped at the time so he takes a pair of iron shears and cuts through to make a fracture in the glass. In dramatic action, he then strikes the iron rod with a hard metal tool and the glass breaks off at that point.

It is Ms Tiffany Tuzo, a third year apprentice, holding the second rod for Mr.

Johns during The Royal Gazette's visit, who then takes over the operation.

This involves "opening the opening out'', placing the front end of the ball into the glory hole to further heat the `fracture' and then with a pair of jacks she quickly and neatly opens up the small hole in a circular motion, ever widening until the piece of glass literally `opens' into, in this case, the shape of a small dish.

This operation is usually repeated once or twice, because the glass cools so rapidly.

It is here that The Royal Gazette becomes a surprising player in the procedure. "Oh yes,'' laughs Mr. Bubenzer, "we always use your paper, folded in a tight wad and constantly doused with water so that Tiffany can handle the glass without burning herself!'' Then Miss Zena Jones, another apprentice in the five-year scheme, knocks the glass off the iron rod and places it in the `lehr', which is heated to 1,000 degrees and will hold that piece and the rest of the day's production as it is finished.

The `lehr' is programmed to gradually reduce the temperature. "It will probably be about 6 a.m. the next day before you can open the doors of the `lehr' and, even then, it's about 200 degrees, so they don't take everything out right away.'' He explains that, the thicker the glass, the longer it has to anneal (removing the stress from the glass). This stress is caused by the glass being subjected to alternately hot and cold temperatures. "You have to remember that glass cools in about 15 seconds, so it's continually expanding and contracting. The reason the glass is left in the lehr all day is to bring all the pieces to the Art of glass From Page 20 gradually reduced without fear of the glass breaking.'' No, he says, the glass workers are very rarely burned. "They are dealing with intensely hot glass and they have to walk around the room with the glass on the end of these long poles but they all seem to have a built-in awareness of exactly where each person is moving around!'' Photos by David Skinner GLASS BLOWING -- Glass artist Mr. Tony Johns demonstrates the art of glass blowing at the Bermuda Glass Blowing Studio on Blue Hole Hill in Hamilton Parish.

FIERY FURNACE -- Apprentice Mr. Jody Mello fires a piece of glass in the main furnace.

A GLASSY CHRISTMAS -- Ms Bonnie-Rose Mello shows off some of the Christmas collection at the Bermuda Glass Blowing Studio.