I've seen glass blowing done, at a glass factory.
Melting glass, sticking a pipe in it, and blowing down the pipe is pretty simple, from what I remember. Making something useful is quite a skill.
The glass is heated in a bowl, and then picked up with the end of the pipe. Then the glass blower props the one end of the pipe on a stand, starts puffing down the pipe, and turning it. When he wants to make it wider or narrower, he lets it cool, or heats different parts over a flame, before puffing in it again.
I'm sure Utube will throw something up. The really good glass blowers are quite bonkers, apparently. Live, work and breath glass blowing.
Oh yeah, I don't think melting down your average glass milk bottle will work. It goes from solid to liquid to quick. The glass has got to be like a thick gloop, and stay like it through a range of temperatures. What you need is glass with a high lead content.
Could be wrong about that mind, been a while.
These are the Dudes where I saw it done.
http://welshroyalcrystal.co.uk/They had to stop production while we peckered the bridge into the industrial state away. The vibration was putting ripples in the glass
