It kills me when my friends talk about getting dressed for work and buying good work clothes. When I get dressed for work my criteria is, can I sit comfortably for hours at a time and do I care if I burn a hole in it. I do wear a welders leather apron but little bits of burning glass can fly in some very unexpected directions.

Then there the glasses, aren’t they pretty? Not. Who cares, they are keeping my eyes safe and allowing me to work.

These are didymium glasses.Rose didymium is a high luminous transmittance filter specifically designed to absorb bright yellow sodium flare (589 nm) which occurs when heating glass. Didymium lenses protect the eyes from certain visible and UV light produced in the glassblowing process.

What this means is that my glasses are protecting my eyes from UV light and from sodium flare. Which means that I can see what the melting glass is doing in the flame.

I made a short video to show you this. It’s a bit wonky because I only have 2 hands. When the screen gets a bit purpley, and you can see the bead, that’s when the glasses are in front of the camera. If all you see is a ball of flame, no glasses.

You can find the video here.