Most weekend plans revolve around eating something somebody else made. This one starts with you making something yourself.
On West Magnolia Avenue, in a building that used to sell gasoline, you can spend half an hour working molten glass with a pro at your elbow, then be sitting down to a good meal a few blocks away before the adrenaline wears off. Bring a friend, or three. It’s the rare group outing where everybody leaves with a story and a souvenir they made with their own hands.
SiNaCa Studios
SiNaCa Studios sits at 1013 W. Magnolia Ave. in the Near Southside, inside a renovated gas station. It’s a nonprofit school of glass and gallery, started by local artists, and it teaches everyone from first-timers to working glass artists.
There are three studios under one roof, and each one handles glass differently.
- The hot shop is the big show. Glass comes out of the furnace at around 2,100 degrees, and you shape it while it glows.
- Flameworking happens at a bench in front of a gas torch, using rods and tubes of glass. It’s closer, slower and more detailed work.
- Kiln forming works with glass while it’s still solid, fusing and shaping pieces in a kiln. It’s the gentlest starting point if anyone in your group is nervous about the heat.
How a Walk-Up Session Works
You don’t need a semester to try it. SiNaCa’s walk-up workshops, which it calls Spark sessions, are built for beginners. You book a time, pick your colors, and an instructor walks you through one project from start to finish. A hot shop session runs about 30 minutes, while flameworking and kiln forming sessions run about an hour.
The projects follow the calendar. In the fall, that means glass pumpkins in the hot shop, which might be the most Fort Worth way to welcome the season. Book ahead, especially for weekends.
A couple of things to know before you go. Glass studios run hot, so dress for it and check SiNaCa’s site for what to wear. And don’t expect to carry your piece out the door. Glass has to cool slowly in a kiln, so ask when it will be ready for pickup. Consider it another excuse to come back to Magnolia.
Glassblowing is such a cool skill, and with some experience you can make all sorts of unique pieces, like a spooky witch’s crystal ball, a sculpture of your favorite character, or accessories like Gandalf’s hand pipe, but in glass!
Where to Eat Before and After
The best part of booking a class on Magnolia is that you’re already standing on one of Fort Worth’s best food streets. Here’s how to build the day around it.
Before class: Paris Coffee Shop. Open since 1926 and on Magnolia since 1974, Paris Coffee Shop is the place to fuel up. Order the chicken and dumplings at lunch and save room for the coconut meringue pie. It serves breakfast and lunch, so pair it with a morning or midday session.
Right after: Salt & Straw. Working next to a 2,100-degree furnace earns you ice cream. Salt & Straw’s Fort Worth shop is at 1305 W. Magnolia Ave., a short walk from the studio. Ask for samples. The olive oil flavor sounds strange and works.
Casual dinner: Ko Thai. Ko Thai is a two-story room at 725 W. Magnolia Ave. with a balcony over the street. Start with the Crying Tiger, a marinated ribeye with sticky rice. A full dinner without drinks stays around $25 a person, which makes it an easy pick for a group.
Bistro night: Lili’s Bistro. A Magnolia regular that made CraveDFW’s list of unique Fort Worth restaurants. The Gorgonzola fries are why people keep coming back.
The classic: Nonna Tata. Nonna Tata just turned 20, and it hasn’t changed a thing. Northern Italian, handmade pasta, cash only and BYOB. Bring a bottle and order the cappellacci.
Make a Day of It
Book the class, round up a few friends and plan the meals around it. By the end of the day you’ll have eaten well, learned something new and put a piece of glass on the shelf you can point to and say, “I made that.” Not many Saturdays end that way.
