Glass Shop

From the Bloomington Herald-Times:

Add one part Pyrex glass, one part flame and one part Don Garvin and what do you get? A scientific glass blower who can make you pretty much anything you want from a tube of glass.

Garvin is a third-generation glass blower in the chemistry department at Indiana University. His workshop is located in the basement of the building where the department is housed.

A majority of the glassware he makes or repairs is for undergraduate and graduate students performing experiments in chemistry. But, he also does work for several other departments on the Bloomington campus as well as the regional campuses around the state. “I’m the only glass blower in the Indiana University system,” Garvin said. “Anything that has to do with glass-blowing needs comes through my doors.”

After more than two decades of making countless columns and manifolds, Garvin still enjoys working in the department. “Yeah … you may keep doing the same thing in some regards, maybe little variations of it, but you meet new people,” he said. “The fun part is working with the professors and the students,” he said. “A lot have just invested their whole lives on this opportunity.”