GameLab · a breath, a tilt, a light

Breathglass

Blow into your phone to shape molten glass. Every vessel sings a note that comes from its shape.

Commissions

Everything stays in this browser. About this experiment · GameLab

Free blow

Take a gather

How much glass One gathersmall and bright, high voices Two gathersthe middle of the range Three gathersheavy, for low voices

Colour

Frit twist

Out of the annealer

Before you blow

Breathglass needs your breath

You blow into the microphone to shape the glass. Your browser will ask to allow it. The sound is measured as it happens and is never recorded, saved or sent anywhere.

Optional, for the full experience

Motion and tiltTip the phone to point the pipe down or up, and swing it to stretch the glass.
CameraAim it at a lamp to reheat the glass, and sample the room's colours. Nothing is recorded.
VibrationA buzz when cold glass starts to crack. No permission needed.

Change any of these later under Senses. Every one has an on-screen stand-in, so the game also works without them.

Senses

Each sense is optional and asked for on its own tap. The buttons on screen always work too.

BreathMicrophone. Blow across it like a pipe. Talking and humming don't count as breath; humming wakes glass on the shelf.
off
Tilt and swingMotion sensors. Tip the right side of the phone down to point the pipe down and stretch the glass. Swing the phone to draw it long.
off
Light furnace and colourCamera. Aim it at a lamp or a sunny window to reheat. Sample the room's colours for the glass.
off
BuzzVibration warns you when cold glass starts to crack.

Breath sensitivity Flip tilt Lite graphics Mute

How to blow glass with a phone

Blow into the mic, or hold Blow / Space. The bubble swells and its note drops. Blow too far and the wall goes paper-thin and bursts.
Keep the pipe turning. Drag sideways on the roll bar, or hold A/D. Stop turning and soft glass sags toward the floor. Turn steadily and the sag cancels itself out.
Tilt. Tip the phone's right side down and the pipe points down: the glass stretches and the note falls. Tip it up and the glass squats. Swing the phone to draw it long. On a computer use W/S.
Jacks. Press and hold on the glass to squeeze a ring in. Squeeze the neck to lower the note, the body to raise it. Only squeeze while it turns, or you'll leave marks.
Reheat. Glass stiffens as it cools and cracks if it gets too cold. Hold Reheat / H, or aim the camera at a bright light.
Crack off when the tuner says you're there. The vessel anneals and its note is measured.

The note is real acoustics. A vessel's voice is a Helmholtz resonance: the air in the body bouncing on the plug of air in the neck. Its ring is the wall flexing like a wine glass, higher for thick walls and small bodies.

Breathglass

Commissions

Take a gather

Breathglass needs your breath

Optional, for the full experience

Senses

How to blow glass with a phone

Paused

Breathglass