Monday, July 23, 2007: Ostaad Elahi

The vases I purchased but don't know how to take home



Molten glass ovens with molten glass drippings on the floor



The treasures inside the cooling oven



A drop of molten glass ready to be formed


I drove Mom's car for the first time! It was a short drive, but a drive in Tehran, nonetheless. Aunt Fakhri was over for lunch and I had to pick up Ebrahim, our family driver, from the main street where he gets off the bus, so I took the car and picked him up. He then drove me to the glassblowing workshop. Mom and Aunt Fakhri stayed home.

We arrived at the workshops at 1:30 PM. I took notes, interviewed a few apprentices, intermediate masters, and masters, took more pictures, and videotaped. I was asked to give copies of the pictures, which I promised to do. The workday ended at 3 PM for everyone, and just as quickly as they had started in the morning, they finished. Blow pipes were put away, molds moved to the side, and all kilns, except the cooling ovens, turned off. One of the workers whose job is to empty the cooling oven and rinse the glassware started cleaning the floor with a shovel. I then interviewed Ostaad Elahi for an hour. His son, Ali, was interested in responding to my questions also, so naturally, I interviewed him too. I used my digital voice recorder and have quite a bit of transcripts to translate and analyze now.