BOTTLING IT ALL UP OR OUT

That expression “bottling out” means according to dictionaries such as Collins losing courage at the last moment and not doing something intended to do. I am sure we have all been there. I used to make home made wine and used to have fun bottling the wine after fermentation, but I think that’s a different interpretation! There is a difference between “bottling out” and “bottling it up”.

In my glass arty times I have put many things in a bottle. I even bottled my emotions one time. I wrote the word “emotion” with glass rod and sealed this into a glass bottle. So really, I did seal my emotions so nobody could interfere with them and break or damage them in any way. Wish I could do that in real life as opposed to pretend life! I bottled up not out.

My biggest example of bottling out was many years ago when offered the chance to do a glassblowing demo in a shopping centre. I am used to my local clubs be it the SWRI or the Scouts, but this was to a whole new audience. Members of the general public (shock horror!) would wander around the shops and suddenly fall across me with burners blazing bright and cleverly (so I think) manipulating glass and creating wonderous works of art. I was tempted but there was a catch. That catch was the location of the shopping centre which was described to me as a state-of-the-art shopping mall. It was in Dubai and could have been the experience of a lifetime. I bottled out because of problems with smuggling cylinders of propane and oxygen on an airplane. Of course, the heat for the sun in Dubai would be enough to melt my glass and I wouldn’t need any extra gases to use for flames. Oh well another time? No there will never be another tome for me. It was a chance in a lifetime, and I bottled out.

Since then, I have met a couple of scientific glassblowers work in a university in the area to which I am glad to say I didn’t bottle out engaging with them to create a good working relationship which I think will include future training of scientific glassblowers within the university and beyond.

Its easy to bottle up emotions (especially if the emotions are made from glass!) although I question why? What is the point to refrain from saying what’s in your head or heart at times when perhaps diplomacy is vital. I have met only a couple of people in my life who would never ever in all the years left for them to exist on this planet have an atom of skill to be a glassblower. I never had the guts to tell them so allowed them to struggle. They burnt their hands. They cut their fingers and cried all night without sleep. Even with all these obvious signs of failure I never advised them to stop, give up and work in any career if it’s not one where using hands are paramount. They learnt and both are now successful accountants earning far more money than if they stayed at boring old dangerous glass art! I wish I popped my cork and let my imaginary bottle expand to show them what I really thought of their work and prospects. Traditional rigid custom held me back. Gee I hate that at times!

The ting about bottles is that people think of glass in first instance which is great for glassy people like me. However, we all know bottles come in all shapes and sizes and materials. Plastic and ceramic are obvious but there are paper bottles and bottles made from paper that has been 3D printed. I believe that glass is and always will be the best material for bottles. It can easily be recycled. There are so many bottle banks around that there should be no excuse for people not recycling glass bottles. There are more glass bottle banks than real money banks! I took my Beaver Scouts to a trip to the local bottle bank and was amazed that only one Beaver knew what a bottle bank is. We had a smashing time trying to work out what colour bank to insert a particular bottle. It really doesn’t matter as they all end up in the same place. Don’t believe me? Then wait until the bottle bank emptying lorry arrives to tip all the contents of various brown, clear, and green banks into same receptacle. Wonder where blue bottles go? No one cares!

I used to make small glass bottles as wedding favours. Sometimes these were filled with whisky and engraved with the married couple initials on. I used corks to seal the necks but sometimes there was still an air gap so used glue to fix the corks secure. Sometimes the glue ran down the neck on the inside and contaminated the whisky. Once a guest at a wedding broke open the miniature bottle and drank the whisky. It was he shouted to the fellow guests the worse whisky he had tasted. He had tasted a lot! He said it tasted like glue. That’s because most of the liquid in the bottle was in fact glue! I don’t use glue anymore!