Make a Glass Pumpkin Bowl in Sarasota. Pick It Up Next Week.

Here is the deal nobody tells you about glass. You can make the thing in an afternoon. You cannot take the thing home in an afternoon.

Sarasota School of Glass on Lawton Drive runs two-hour fusing classes for people who have never touched a glass cutter, which per its own FAQ is most of the people who walk in. You pick a project, they teach you to cut and arrange the glass, and you leave it on a shelf for the kiln. Each piece fuses for at least 24 hours. Most also get slumped into shape, which is another 24. "Most projects are ready within a week of your class."

So if you're thinking about the Pumpkin Bowl ($85, 11 inches across, 2 inches deep) for the Halloween table, I have news. It will not be on the Halloween table. It will be on the Thanksgiving table, which is Nov. 26 and also, if you think about it, a pumpkin holiday. Nobody at dinner will know you missed your original deadline. The bowl will never tell.

What you can make in two hours

The project list is long and has prices right on it, which I respect. A few beginner picks:

• Wild Fish, $65, 6 to 8 inches, your colors, hook included. The most Sarasota object on the page.
• Night Light, $65, bulb and hardware included.
• Garden Totem, from $35 for the small one.
• House Numbers, $99. Tell them your numbers before class so the house doesn't end up with someone else's address.
• Glass Hearts, $85, and you make nine of them, which is a lot of hearts. Plan accordingly.

The holiday shelf is already out, too: single ornaments for $15 or six for $50, a Menorah for $85 and a Curved Christmas Tree with lights from $85. Because nothing says Florida December like making a glass Christmas tree in a warehouse in October.

The FAQ is refreshingly honest about what a first-timer should skip: coral bowl, wave, ice bowl, woven bowl, 3D butterflies and lotus bowl. The Woven Bowl ($125) is a four-hour project and only runs in the early slots. That's a second date, not a first one.

The kids will beat you

From the FAQ, verbatim: "if the kids can use scissors, they can cut glass." They keep kid-sized safety glasses, and they note that kids "usually finish before the adults." I believe it. A 9-year-old does not stand there for 20 minutes deciding whether teal is too much teal.

Kid-friendly projects include monster magnets, the candy dish, the garden totems and the candlestick, which the studio calls "a kid favorite." For birthday parties they ask for at least two adults, and they'd like the adults to make something too. Groups can book a class together, with a spot set up for food, and BYOB is available for group events.

How this whole thing started

The founder, Sue Kutno, tells the story on the About page. She started in stained glass about 35 years ago, then went all in on fusing back when the how-to was basically one book from Bullseye Glass and a lot of long-distance phone calls. Her frit painting won the Corning Museum of Glass's New Glass Review, the year 100 artists were picked out of 2,300 entries.

Then, in 1991, she and her husband Irv moved to Sarasota "to retire....but of course we had to find something to do." What they found to do was a gallery on Palm Avenue, then a school, then a bigger school, and now a 3,500-square-foot space with a staff of 13. Their daughter Jini and her husband Gary run the sister company, Firelite Forms, which makes slumping molds and sells them around the world. That is the most Sarasota retirement story I have ever heard, and I've heard about a lot of pickleball leagues.

Good to know before you go

• Book: online from the fusing class pages or by phone, with a $30 deposit. Need to reschedule? Call; the student policy asks for 24 hours' notice.
• Wear: closed-toe shoes. That's the whole dress code. Loose, cool clothes help, because a room full of kilns does what you'd expect.
• Class size: up to 10 students.
• Can't decide? Show up 30 minutes early and pick there, so they can prep your glass.
• Birthday Club: you attend free when a friend buys a class. Write your birth date on the registration slip.
• Groupon: the studio stopped taking new Groupons; ones booked before Oct. 1 are still honored. Details on the deals page.
• Want to keep going? A $45 Tools Workshop unlocks open studio: $10 an hour, $60 a month or $500 a year, glass not included.

Go

• Where: Sarasota School of Glass, 5704 Lawton Drive, Sarasota
• Hours (per its contact page): Wednesday to Saturday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., closed Monday; Tuesday is set aside for open studio
• Class: about 2 hours, most pieces ready within a week
• Phone: 941-925-4527

Want more hands-on stuff to do around here? The Halloween Finder has every costume contest left this month, Brooke has this week outdoors, and I've got the meetups and the week ahead.

— Sandy