CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte's first hot glass art studio is drawing people to glass blowing. It's a process that hasn’t changed much since Hot Glass Alley owner Jacob Pfeifer first saw it when he was 13. 

In fact, it hasn’t changed much in the last couple hundred years. 

"You’re wielding this like, giant glowing material. And you’re like...that's the coolest thing I've ever seen,” Pfeifer says.

Pfeifer uses a pipe, fire, and his breath to shape raw, melted glass. He manipulates it with tools that stretch the definition of a tool, including a block of wood, a giant pair of tweezers — called jacks, and a wet piece of newspaper. 

Pfeifer says, "It looks, literally, like magic. You're like, this is real?"

It’s real, and it's gaining popularity because of a world that tends to focus on things that are fake. 

Social media is heating up interest in watching and trying glass blowing. 

Pfeifer says he has seen more people wanting a hands-on demonstration, lessons, or a chance to watch.  

"You know with enough time, practice, and effort I can create a vessel all the way to a big sculpture," Pfeifer says. "The possibilities are endless."

Every third Friday, Hot Glass Alley invites the public to watch. 

One thing they won’t see however, are any pre-mixed molds. It’s all done by hand. 

Even in an art form set in its ways, each piece offers a new challenge. 

"There’s all these ways that I can manipulate this material, and the possibilities are endless," Pfeifer says.

It’s why Pfeifer expects to keep finding new fans in an old art. 

"That is the big draw — is that I’ve taken this passion and made it a career, which is not what a lot of people get to do," Pfeifer says.