J. S. Scientific Glass Works

Out here in Mai Achnera, things are a bit slower than in the big cities. J. S. Scientific Glass Works is where we spend our time working with fire and glass. It’s a delicate kind of work, and you have to be patient or everything just breaks. The workshop gets really hot because of the burners, so we try to keep the windows open for whatever breeze comes through. We aren't a big corporation with fancy branding. We are just a group of people who know how to handle glass. Most of our day is spent at the bench, shaping tubes and flasks for labs and schools. It takes a steady hand and a lot of focus. Sometimes a piece cracks right at the end, and we just have to start over without complaining. That’s just how glass is. We have piles of sand and boxes of finished pieces waiting to be packed carefully in straw or bubble wrap. Shipping is always a bit nerve-wracking because we don’t want anything to shatter on the bumpy roads around here. People in the village know us as the glass guys. We don't do much advertising; word just travels around. It’s a quiet life for the most part, centered around the heat of the flame and the shape of the glass. We just keep doing what we know how to do, one piece at a time, until the sun goes down.