Rochester Arc & Flame Center

Best date night ever! My boyfriend and I took the «Fused Glass Date Night» class (thank you, for the tickets love).
We were joined by two other couples. The center itself is larger than I expected, with a large central section (with finished products in glass cases for sale) and three rooms that branch off from it. The central section was laid out with wine, waters, cheese & crackers, and candies so that we could grab a plate and munch before/​after the class.
There was a different date night class occurring in each of the three rooms: blacksmithing, boroscilicate glass, and fused glass. For our workshop, we had two glass instructors who were incredibly nice and eager to share their knowledge and work with us! The fused glass class involved making a mosaic plate. We had our choice of a square plate or a rectangular sushi plate.
The instructors explained how to score the different colored glasses and cut them. I was really surprised by how easily the glass broke. The instructors were super encouraging and available anytime we needed help with anything. They were also open to showing us how to use some of the more advanced tools if we desired to do something with the glass that wasn’t possible with what we had.
The plates were fired after we left, and so we didn’t get to bring them home until 2 weeks after! I wish that we got to see what some of the other couple’s plates looked like in the end!

RocAFC is one of the rare hidden gems in Rochester that will probably become un-​hidden very quickly.
My boyfriend and I took the Blacksmithing Date Night course ($ 150 for 2 people — it includes all materials, snacks and bottled water/​wine). The location was very easy to find — it is right off of Manitou Rd, located behind the FedEx mail facility. We were greeted by the owners/​teachers. There was one other couple taking the blacksmithing course. There were a bunch of other people there taking a glass making class and that looked really cool too. We snacked a little on salsa and chips while our blacksmithing teacher walked us through the facility. She was extremely friendly, laid back and knowledgeable. We started with the safety talk (wear your safety glasses, don’t run around with a glowing piece of metal, don’t touch the glowing piece of metal with your bare hands, and other hard to understand things) and signed a standard waiver.
Each person got to make a rose. We started with flat metal cutouts shaped like flowers (see photos) and were instructed step by step on how to heat the metal in the gas forge, hammer the metal (one of the best forms of stress relief!), shaping it (with no fear of breaking anything. since it is metal!), etc. Our teacher was really quite amazing. She was so funny, approachable and showed no sign of annoyance when it took me 20 minutes to figure out how to take the square end off the rod for the flower’s stem (it was my first time!). Her husband (also a blacksmithing expert) came in later to assist us in the shaping part (each ‘petal’ has to be heated with a blowtorch and then shaped with pliers — the metal stays pliable for 30 – 45 seconds). He was also very friendly.
The class was supposed to be from 7pm to 11pm but we were there till 12:15am as things took longer than we thought… it may have been partially due to my… uhm…delay in understanding how to take the square end of the rod (and other similar issues others had). But the time flew by. I had so much fun and couldn’t believe I actually made a rose via blacksmithing. My boyfriend loved the experience as well. It helped that the teachers were so passionate about blacksmithing and just creating something with your hands.
At the end, they requested we fill out a survey on how they did, the class materials, the facility, etc. I love that they want feedback. That is a mark of a business that cares about improving itself. I had zero complaints (if you read my reviews, you know this is highly unusual for me).
$ 150 for 2 people may sound steep but after seeing the facility and how involved the whole process I was, I believe it was a reasonable price. They mentioned that they will do private blacksmithing classes if you get 3 – 4 people together.
RocAFC is owned/​run by people who are absolutely passionate about their art and that passion will rub off on you! I would love to go back and try their glass classes and even blacksmithing again (did I really just write that?).