Returning to RISD in 1969, Chihuly used "amorphic shapes . . . dripping molten glass out of the furnace" (Chihuly: Color, Glass and Form, p. 17). He added color with neon and argon gases and was able to blow colored glass, though his palette was limited. The glass forms were arranged on pedestals, which housed transformers that generated a field of energy and lit up the inert gases inside the blown glass.

An encounter with a student expanded the more technical directions of his art. James Carpenter, a RISD illustration major with a strong background in botanical drawing and a fascination with architecture, approached Chihuly because he wanted to blow glass flower and seed-pod shapes in the spirit of the famed glass flowers of Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University. Carpenter was well-traveled and an unusually sophisticated student, and the two quickly became good friends and commenced an artistic collaboration which continued through 1974. Pursued alongside Chihuly's busy teaching schedule, the collaboration of this teacher and gifted student took the form of an inquiry into what Carpenter has called "the characteristics of luminosity, reflection, and transparency" (conversation with the author, 1992). They moved on from illuminated botanical shapes to use plastic, dry and liquid ice, and neon in indoor and outdoor installations and environments and to create a group of architectural elements that includes a wall, windows, and doors of glass.

The use of neon and argon made possible a range and intensity of color that greatly expanded the expressive potential of their work. Neon has a red to orange range and argon is a whitish blue, which is increased in intensity with the addition of mercury. Brighter color can be added to neon and argon when their glass tubing is coated with fluorescent powder, and glass tubing can also be colored so that, beyond white and red variants, hues of green, purple, and blue can be attained. These advances were realized with the technical assistance of the Providence-area businesses of Bob Reed of Nepco Neon and Richmond Kent of Audio Applications. They helped Chihuly and Carpenter find the means, with considerable experimentation, to unite inert gases, high-frequency energy, and blown glass. Chihuly ordered masses of colored neon tubes from Nepco, which he arrayed as "Neon Samplers" in simple displays on the wall of his studio. He became so interested in the artistic possibilities of neon that he taught classes in its use at RISD, and this medium is now a regular part of the Pilchuck Glass School curriculum.