By day, Art Ciccotti works as a lab technician for Iowa State’s chemistry department.

“I put together the experiments that go out each week,” Ciccotti said. “I mix the chemicals, I put the equipment on carts.”

But by night, he’s the owner, artist, technician and businessman behind Ciccotti Art Glass.

He originally discovered the art while earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Iowa State.

“I used to do stained glass work, and, when I was going to school here, I just happened to go by the glass blowing club,” Ciccotti said. “Glassblowing tends to catch all the people’s attention.”

More than 20 years later, including a decade of teaching in the public school system and five years at Iowa State’s Chemistry Glass Shop, he continues to pursue his passion and his art.

“I try to advance my skills as well as my artistic expression,” Ciccotti said. “It’s a long-term process of growing in this medium that I’m working in, and trying new things, learning new things.”

Ciccotti lives just outside of Ames, and has a 24-by-45-foot glassblowing studio.

“We moved out here so I could build a studio,” Ciccotti said.

Most of the equipment in his shop is either home-built or has been modified for his specific purposes.

“Over the years, I learned how to weld, I learned how to wire things, I learned how to construct things,” Ciccotti said. “All the different jobs and things that I’ve done have sort of come together and become useful.”

Ciccotti also plays the role of manager and businessman.

“As far as the business end of it, you have to wear a lot of different hats. You have to take care of the finances, you have to take care of clients,” Ciccotti said. “One thing that all good business people have to do is pay taxes, so you have to maintain good records of all of your stuff.”

That also means seeking new galleries in which to display and sell his work — more exposure means more opportunities. Ciccotti has done gifts for retirees, and has even given lessons.

During the winter, he goes into production mode, and creates many pieces of glassware to display and sell at area craft shows like the Octagon Art Festival.

But, in the end, he’s in it for the art. “My glass blowing business is a passion that I have, and it’s a lot of work, but it’s what I do because I enjoy doing it,” Ciccotti said. “It’s the kind of thing that it takes years to learn.”

The glassblowing process:

First, the artist will gather molten glass, much like caramel or honey.

“You start off with a pipe, and you take a gather of glass out of crucible that’s heated up to the temperature that keeps the glass liquid,” Ciccotti said.

Then the artist rolls the glass to shape it and blows through the pipe.

“You keep blowing the bubble bigger and bigger with each successful gather,” Ciccotti said.

After adding color and further shaping the piece, it is transferred to a solid rod and broken off the pipe — that way the artist can then shape the other side of the work.

“So after you get the vase finished, you get both ends of it shaped the way you need to have it done, you put it into an oven,” Ciccotti.

The annealing oven evens out the heat in the glassware to prevent stress fractures later.