Fair vet can stand the heat

Glass blower Charlie Keeling doesn’t always know why he stays in the business.

He compares glass blowing to the old story about a frog in a pot of boiling water.

If the water is already hot, there is no way you are getting that frog in there. But if the water is cool when the frog goes in, when it heats up he won’t get out.

It may be an appropriate comparison for a man who works at a fair famous for its fried frog legs.

“Sometimes I see bubbles around my feet,” Keeling said of the difficulties in his business. “But I just love it.”

Keeling, a professional glass blower since 1989, is one of the attractions at the Orange County Fair this year.

A nine-year veteran of the fair, Keeling says it isn’t always easy to take the heat with stiff competition in the field; but even with the challenges, he can’t complain.

“It’s more satisfying than a lot of other occupations,” he said.

Sitting in the back of Crafters Village, Keeling stares into a fuming orange bowl glaring back at him with 2,100-degree heat.

Using sand, sodash and other chemicals, Keeling is able to create beautiful works of art to the amazement of onlookers.

“My way of dealing with really, really hot days is to make Christmas ornaments,” Keeling said to an onlooker.

While Keeling spoke to a reporter during his down time, a crowd gathered around to watch him create the ornament.

The ornament wasn’t for one of his demonstrations, which are at 1:30, 3:30 and 6:30 p.m., but the technical procession and the creation of glass art that seems to appear like a chewing gum bubble drew crowds almost immediately.

“It is very process-orientated,” said Keeling, who has his master’s of arts degree in glass blowing from Cal State Fullerton. “If you don’t go through those technical steps, it is all for naught.”

While calling it an art form, Keeling said most artists don’t have the patience or technical prowess to perform glass blowing.

Most artists just want to express themselves and won’t take the time to learn the science or master the methodical technique, Keeling said.

And while he spends hours alone, carving and whittling ornaments, vases and other designs with his lungs, some of his favorite moments as a glass blower come at the county fair.