Making art is tough these days, Harry Besett tells an enraptured audience. The Vermont glassblower rocks a piece of glass at the end of a long piece of metal and sticks it into a heating chamber called the "glory hole."

"The hardest thing is the cost of real estate," Besett says from behind John Lennon-style glasses. "Artists and other creative folks, they're just looking for a space to make their work."

This week, Besett's space consists of a tent surrounded by tables and chairs in front of an audience, which he enthusiastically entertains.

Wednesday's project: Ye Olde Scotch nosing glasses. Besett explains that his son, who plays in a bagpipe band, had a friend who was fussy about the shape of his Scotch glasses and didn't like a manufactured one from the store.

Besett decided to make his son's friend a version of the nosing glasses, which he preferred, so now Besett makes them regularly.

"We say our Scotch glasses make 12-year-old Scotch taste like 16-year-old Scotch," says Besett, who's been blowing glass with his wife for 30 years. "There's something rewarding about being connected to the work you've created."