Blowing up a storm at the O.C. fair

Charlie Keeling is one of the few people at the Orange County Fair who is not complaining about the heat.

Keeling, a glassblower who demonstrates his craft three times a day at the fair, is accustomed to much hotter temperatures than most people can tolerate.

At the 1:30 p.m. demonstration on Thursday, Keeling used a 2,100-degree furnace and a 2,200-degree reheating chamber to make a long-neck, ruby-red vase decorated with silver swirls and a “hanging vine” pattern.

“It’s just love and insanity,” Keeling said of the heat and the frequent burns and cuts he gets while creating glass pieces. “That’s the only way.”

Keeling’s assistant, Stephen Woodruff, explained that “we have to drink lots more water than other people, because the heat just makes us sweat so much.”

A group of nearly 30 fairgoers gathered at Keeling’s booth in Crafters Village to watch the glassblowing process, which he narrated with the help of a headset. Dave and Denise Krauss, who came to the fair to escape the heat of their San Gabriel Valley home, enjoyed watching the vase creation from start to finish.

“He’s really informative,” Dave Krauss said of Keeling. “Watching things like this gives you a really good idea of what crafts are going on around the fair.”

Keeling, who has a degree in glassblowing from Cal State Fullerton, started the vase with a little blob of orange on the end of a blow-pipe. He said that the blob, which was actually clear glass, appeared orange due to the extreme heat it was giving off.

Keeling and Woodruff worked together to melt ruby-colored glass over the clear glass, frequently putting the growing blob in the chamber to heat it and manipulate it with metal tools.

He explained that three ingredients are needed to make glass: silicon dioxide (sand), flux (a substance that lowers the melting temperature of the silicon) and minerals/oxides, which add clarity and color to the glass.

He’s been blowing glass for 18 years, and has also performed demonstrations at Knott’s Berry Farm. This is Keeling’s eighth year at the Orange County Fair, and he loves it there.

“I love this month and a half ? the rest of the year I’m at home,” he said. “I love the fair and being mixed in with such a cross-section of people.”

Keeling is passionate about his work and runs his own company, CJK Blowing Glass, out of his Upland home.

“I like getting up early in the morning to start work, and my commute is all of 175 feet,” he said. “I like being the captain of my own ship, even if it is a small boat. I get to steer.”

TODAY’S FAIR ATTENDANCE

Thursday as of 6 p.m.: 18,115

Wednesday: 43,020

BEST BET AT THE FAIR

Check out the Zydeco Blue Cajun Band at 8:30 and 10:30 p.m. on the Heritage Stage. Zydeco evolved from Cajun and Creole music from Louisiana, and adds rhythm and blues to the mix. The concert is free with fair admission. For more information visit www.ocfair.com.