ST. LOUIS.- Not one piece of Artist Dale Chihuly's Glass in the Garden exhibit at the Missouri Botanical Garden was damaged or broken after Wednesday night's massive storm, which knocked down trees, buildings and power lines.

"We're going to have Glass in the Garden tonight," Peggy Lents, a spokeswoman for the Garden, told the St. Louis Business Journal, "and no one will even know we had a storm." She said there are some downed tree limbs, but no severe damage.

On January 10–12, workers from Chihuly Studios installed a breathtaking 20-foot blown glass sculpture above the entrance to the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Ridgway Center, a dramatic preview to Glass in the Garden, a new exhibition by renowned artist Dale Chihuly that opens April 30.

Planning began six months ago with tests by structural engineers and retrofitting of the Ridgway Center to support and light the monumental chandelier. The custom-fabricated stainless steel substrate alone weighs almost 300 pounds. Mounted fully with the dramatic whorls and spirals of Chihuly’s art, the completed sculpture weighs 2,300 pounds.

Entitled “Missouri Botanical Garden Blue Chandelier, 2006,” the sculpture is formed by 928 individual glass spirals and gooseneck shapes in shades of cobalt, icy turquoise, and clear. It measures six feet wide by over 20 feet long and was assembled on location by a team of master installers, who will return in April to mount the rest of the exhibition.

Glass is hard and solid but starts as liquid. There are many different methods of making glass. It can be pressed, cut, molded, or formed by glassblowing.

First, the glassworkers mix sand, soda, and lime in a melting pot. This mixture is called a batch and becomes as thick as honey when it’s hot. The batch is heated to over 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, about as hot as a volcano. When the batch is ready, a hollow metal rod, called a blowpipe, is dipped to get a clump of glass.

Next, the glass is shaped using callipers or small glassworking tools, cut with shears, and rolled or flattened out over a bench. The glass is colored using very condensed color rods, powders, or frit (small pieces of glass) to achieve different effects.

Then, the glassblower twirls the blowpipe while blowing into it. The hot air makes the clump grow into a bubble. While the glass is being shaped, it has to be reheated in a furnace, called a gloryhole, or with a blowtorch. If it cools too quickly, it will break. When the piece is finished, the glassworker puts it into an annealing oven where it is gradually cooled over several hours to several days.