April 15, 2026
3D Printed Glass Fabrication and Applications
In this video, Michael Stern, artist, engineer, scientist, designer, and co-inventor of molten glass 3D printing, traces glass fabrication from traditional blowing to additive manufacturing. He shares how he first encountered glass, what drew him to 3D printing, and how his parallel passions for mechanical engineering and glassblowing eventually converged into the invention of a new process. The 3D printing process involves a printer that works by heating a crucible of molten glass, which flows through a nozzle while a build plate moves layer by layer. The object is typically built over the course of 20 minutes to two hours, depending on its size. Rather than forcing the material, Stern emphasizes that working with glass requires listening to it, as it is a "loud material" with its own opinions. He advises those learning and working with glass to break challenges into small, unremarkable steps, given that innovation is simply the result of adding those steps together over time. The video was produced by the Open GLASSroom project. Special thanks to Michael Stern for contributing to the Open GLASSroom OER collection. The creation of these resources has been (partially) funded by the ERASMUS+ grant program of the European Union under grant no. 2022-1-DE01-KA220-HED-000089750. Neither the European Commission nor the project's national funding agency DAAD are responsible for the content or liable for any losses or damage resulting of the use of these resources.