We don’t really do souvenirs. I mean we haven’t yet. We just don’t have room in our packs to stock pile things other than memories. As souvenirs go though I think we found one worthy of space in our luggage. We blew our own glass cups.
Kitengela is a unique hotshop that allows complete amateurs like us to experience blowing glass. Their main material is recycled glass. We’ve heard it is harder to form and mold than fresh glass but we don’t know any different.
We booked ahead of time to set up our glass blowing. I made sure to email ahead to make sure that we could each have a chance to create something. We settled on creating six water glasses. The samples we were shown were speckled with different colours and came in different shapes and sizes. We decided to all go with the same style but have different coloured speckles on the ones we each made.
It was obviously very hot in the glass factory. They gave us sleeves to protect us from the direct heat of the glass we were working with. The gentleman guiding us was a great help. Always reminding us to grab the bar FAR from the molten glass. We took turns making a glass in the same process each time. Lydia made an extra one since we paid for six glasses.
We had to wait about a week before the glasses were ready. Once they were Heather and Madeline stopped at a mall in Nairobi to pick them up at a store. We did use them while we were in Kenya but had to pack them away when we left.
We are thrilled with how they turn out. We did have to leave them with family in Kenya and we are hoping that some day soon we will be reunited with them.
Ball Family Travel 