Glass blowing is an art form that has been around for a long time, but interest in it died down until the 1960s, when it underwent a renewal. There are lots of quality artisans blowing glass objects of all kinds. From hand blown glass vases to ornaments and other items, there are lots of options available for decorating your home. There’s a real difference between hand blown and machine made art glass, so make sure you know what you’re getting. Let’s take a look at where these beautiful objects came from.

Blowing glass has been around for a long time - probably since about the first century BCE. Evidence has been found in a waste heap from Syria that suggests that people were blowing glass. However, it didn’t get a lot of attention until the craft was mastered in Venice during the late medieval era. Workers on the Island of Murano learned how to make high quality hand blown glass vases, goblets, globes and other items. Many incredible fine glass pieces came from this era and location, and the Venetian government actually forbade the workers to leave the island, rewarding them instead with titles of nobility.

Holland and Germany were also working with glass during this period, but they weren’t focusing much on blowing it. Instead, these countries became masters of glass engraving. The world of glass blowing changed relatively little between the seventeenth century and the twentieth, strangely enough. However, by the 1960s, interest in glass blowing as an art, rather than a mechanical process, was renewed. It started with professors at the Toledo Museum of Art, who held workshops to experiment with the art form, and only a few years later Dale Chihuly, world reknowned artist, came onto the scene.

With all these new artists coming into glass blowing and creating abstract sculptures, hand blown glass vases and more, this became one of the fastest growing art forms in North America. All kinds of glass blowers are producing beautiful work in all kinds of sizes and shapes, and there’s a good chance that someone is working in your area. Whether you prefer deep blue cobalt glass, green glasses, or swirled and painted glass, there are pieces you’ll love.

Antique hand blown glass is also popular with collectors. This glass can come in all kinds of decorative shapes, sizes and patterns, and is extremely valuable to the right person, making it a good investment for some. Glass objects are like having jewels of your own, whether large or small, cylinder shaped, rectangular, round or square. So, no matter who you are, you should check out your options in hand blown glass vases and other decorative objects. Art glass items are hot right now, and you’ll need to get them while they’re still available.

Beautiful Hand Blown Glass Vase hand blown glass, blown glass Today I found a really beautiful Swedish Hand Blown Glass Vase online that I’d like to add to my crystal collection. It’s shown here and would be perfect to display the flowers from our cutting garden. Art Glass Vase Look at this stunning Hand Blown Purple, Blue, & Green Sommerso Teardrop Art Glass Vase. This will brighten up any living room.    HAND BLOWN GLASS VASE CAT-TAIL HAND BLOWN GLASS VASE CAT-TAIL DRAMATIC GRADUAL FLARE BOWL Overview. Soft Cat-Tails gently blow in the wind in this popular collection, with each piece adorned in dramatic shades of browns, golds, and tans.

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Elegant and "look at me" glass blowing

These types of art glass are indeed very popular home dcor items and include glass pumpkins, bowls, goblets, vases, garden adornments, ring holders, perfume bottles, paperweights and glass paintings. They come in a huge range in terms of colors and design. You can also get custom installations in order to match the ambiance and space requirements of your room.

Types of hand blown art glass:

ainting in Glass:Hand blown glass paintings are marvelous pieces of art that are full of sophisticated beauty, enrichment of colors, magical brilliance and diligence. Until recently these stylish and classy glass paintings adored only the interiors of the royal and elites families. These hand blown glass paintings are distinguished for their eye-catching clarity, absolute brilliance and use of rich and bold colors and add an extra life to your living room.

Glass Bowls:You can use your decorative hand blown glass bowls for flowers or just keep them in the room as a decorative accent. The base colors are mostly bright and bold that capture and refract rays of light and create a great ambience. Apart from using these marvelous hand blown art glasses as a pedestal or coffee table piece, you can also use them as wall hangings.

Paperweights: The hand blown paperweights come in rich and bold colors as well as in many shapes and designs. They add eye catching colors to your working desk, study table, window sill of your living room, or anywhere else you like to. You can even personalize these paperweights and give them as gifts.

Glass Pumpkins: The hand blown glass pumpkins make a great gift during Halloweens. They are usually bright orange in color and have a nice ribbed side with curly or twisted jade green stems. The best part of these hand blown glass pumpkins are that they are exclusive and hence no chance of two pumpkin being alike.

Cleaning and maintaining hand blown art glasses:

Keep these hand blown art glasses out of direct sunlight as that can fade their colors over time.
Use small and soft bristled brush while cleaning dust from your hand blown art glasses.
Use warm water and a mild dishwashing detergent along with a soft cloth to wash these delica 1000 te art glasses.

By: Mahendra Solanki

Hand Blown Art Glass Painting in Glass: Hand blown glass paintings are marvelous pieces of art that are full of sophisticated beauty, enrichment of colors, magical brilliance and diligence. Until recently these stylish and classy glass paintings adored. HAND BLOWN GLASS ARTWORK  is the leading seller and very poplar for selling hand blown glass art. Each product from this shop is really amazing. I am really impressed by this art glasses.  Hand Blown Glass Chandeliers No matter how many times I see them do it, I am always amazed to watch Jean-Noel and Jean-Marc assemble these intricate glass chandeliers. Spectacular Italian Murano hand blown glass. Hand blown art glass chandelier Hand blown glass.

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Quality cut crystal from Europe can be a treasure trove for the discerning buyer. Exquisite hand blown glass and cut crystal manufactured by master craftsmen in the Slovak and the Czech Republic is now becoming more available to the western market. Today, cut crystal of anniversary gift and heirloom quality is just one of the many glass products to choose from.

Although the Czechs and Slovaks are not the only skilled glass producers in Central Europe, few rival them in artistic range and expertise. Hardly a street in Prague is without a shop window that displays luxury cut crystal or fine hand blown glass. Visitors and tourists find breath-taking works of art exemplified in hand cut crystal and mouth blown glass.

In Bohemia, the craft and art of glassmaking goes back over 600 years. Often a family tradition, the craftsmanship of glass is highly specialized from artwork to glassworks production. Today, Czech glass is still one of the European heirloom treasures to look for and select that "perfect unique gift."

After the collapse of the Communist Socialist system in 1989, state ran
glass factories in Czechoslovakia started down the path of privatization. More and more, they became free to make their own business decisions on which kind of glass they wished to produce and offer to market. Importers from the West also have more choices on goods and glass manufacturers as they are no longer required to go through state specified channels. The result has made world-class custom glass products from Bohemia, readily available to the world economy.

Collecting glass is an obsession to some. Locating and acquiring antique glass collectibles can be as exciting as finding new heirloom cut crystal from the shops of master craftsmen. From crystal chandeliers to colored decorative glass, Czech and Slovak pieces have become more sought after as centuries pass.

Heirloom crystal pieces can be cut to look like a faceted diamond in appearance. Leaded crystal is not the only top grade cut glass, some of the most elegant and expensive cut glass, in the world, contains no lead in it at all. Quality is reliant on the manufacturer and skill of the craftsmen rather than the type of glass produced.

Glass gifts are part of the civilized 1000 culture. Royalty often designated custom decorative glass pieces be made for occasions. Today, cut crystal has not lost its allure. Anniversary glass gifts can be cut crystal pieces or hand blown items. Cut crystal is selected for any anniversary year, but very often the 25th Anniversary gift and again for the 50th Anniversary present. Culinary and kitchen items have become popular for glass gifts of distinction. Gourmet kitchens often show off imported olive oil and aged vinegar, in hand blown decanters and cruets. Recently in vogue are glass-within-glass decanters of oil and vinegar. Their unique quality lends them to be an exceptional gift of European style and design.

By: James Zeller -

Hand Blown Glass Art Custom Art Glass by Stecker Studios sells hand blown glass art, decorative dishes, gazing globes, stained glass window art, glass candy dishes, wall flower art. Hand Blown Glass Art Hand Blown Lavender Multicolor Sommerso Art Glass Teardrop Vase 11 tall $39.00 The hand-blown craftsmanship of the Sommerso technique gives this and all Sommerso vases a strikingly smooth look.  Hand Blown Glassware The process of hand-blowing glass is when air pressure fef is used to form a bubble in molten glass then shaped with tools to create products like drinking glasses and other glassware.

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Natural glass, like obsidian, is a dense volcanic glass, and has been used by man for millennia. To early man, obsidian glass was an extremely rare and valuable commodity, Because of the way volcanic glass fractures, sharp edges occur. This inherent quality of natural cut glass was put to use and was often made into sharp spear points and blades.

Man-made rudimentary glass was made from silica sand, plant ash and lime. Over time it was discovered that if glass was heated until it became semi-liquid, it may be molded or shaped and left to cool into a solid new piece or vessel. In ancient times glass pieces were valued as a substitute for precious stones, gems, and gifts.

During first century BC, the craft of melting and blowing glass into useable objects was developed. Glass pieces and items gradually became more common after the discovery of glassblowing. Objects such as vases, bottles, and cruets were mouth blown and mold blown during the Roman Empire, usually for ordinary purpose and daily use.

Common glass normally has a greenish hue. The green tint is caused by miniscule amounts of iron impurities in the sand used to make glass. Glass producers learned to make decorative and colored glass by adding metallic compounds and mineral oxides such as cobalt. Colored glass of reds, blues and greens became prevalent. After craftsmen learned to score and cut glass, they found clear glass refracted light in spectacular fashion. Thus, clear cut glass became popular, and demand for colored glass plummeted.

Around 1000 AD, a new development was made in glassmaking. The glass making component of soda-lime, was replaced by potash obtained from wood ashes. From this time on, glass from the northern part of Europe differed greatly from that made in the Mediterranean area, where soda-lime remained in common use. Centuries later in Bohemia, ashes from beech trees were used. The production of Bohemian ‘forest glass’ was progressively refined over the years.

During the 11th century new ways of making sheet glass came about in Germany. Glass blowers would blow spheres, and then form them into cylinders. They would cut the glass while still hot and then flatten the glass into sheets. Glass makers in Venice, Italy improved this method in 13th century. By the late 1300’s there was as many as 20 glassworks in Bohemia and Moravia. The 12th century saw the arrival of stained glass production. Stained glass, another form of colored glass, was made by adding metal impurities. Church and monastery applications of stained glass can be traced back to examples that remain today, i.e. St. Bartholomew church in Kolin. A glass wall mosaic is preserved there from around 1380.

Venice became the dominant center for glassmaking during the 14th century. Here new glass making methods were developed and export trade such as mirrors, tableware, and decanters flourished. Secrets of glass making were highly guarded in Venice, but eventually glass workers moved to other areas of Europe taking their knowledge and skill with them. As ornate glassworks became more popular, Royalty began ordering decorative glass articles to be made, to give as gifts of distinction for occasions.

A technique called ‘the Crown glass process’ was used to make glass until the mid part of the 1800s. A glassblower would spin around 9 lbs of molten glass at the end of a rod until it spread out into a flat disk nearly 5 feet across. The glass disk would then be cut into panes. Glass from Venice was highly prized for over four centuries as they managed to keep this technique secret. In 1688, a method for casting glass was invented. This led to glass and glass panes in becoming a much more common material. The glass pressing machine was invented in 1827 and facilitated mass production of relatively inexpensive glass items. The glass pioneer, William J. Blenko, is recognized as first glass producer in America to use the cylinder method of creating flat glass by the 1920s.

The Bohemian countries of Czech and Slovakia are still known today as two of the finest cut glass and cut crystal producers in the world. Cut crystal pieces are prized as elegant anniversary and birthday gifts.

By: suegold

Glass Blowing at Corradetti If you are near the Clipper Mill area make sure to sign up for one of Corradetti’s Glass blowing lessons. It is about $45 and well worth the price. The Art of Glassblowing The artisans demonstrated the craft of 17th century glassblowing for us. Glassblowing was one of Virginia’s first industries, started in 1608 by German and Polish craftsmen. Glass blowing  This past summer I went to a fair where there was glass blowing I thought it was soooo cool so I decided to try to find examples of glass blowing this is what I found on line.

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For many collectors and antique dealers, it is difficult to be able to tell the difference between an original and a reproduction Depression glass piece. With a little general knowledge on the subject of reproductions, any person should be able to easily discern what is the original and what is the imposter. Following are some key tips to help you separate the real from the fake depression glass.

In general, Depression glass is mostly a lighter weight mold pressed glassware that was made between the 1920s and 1950s. The significant factors in depression glass is that they are a transparent colored glass, they usually have an embossed or raised pattern and they typically will have minute imperfections in the glass.

First, we will examine the colors: Original Depression glass usually has a light transparent coloration, typically green, pink, or blue. These colors, although at times will vary in intensity, should usually be a light color variation. If your piece has deep color tones, or it appears much darker than usual, it may be a sign it is not an original. Typically, reproduction Depression glass is made in China, Taiwan, India, or Mexico, and the color variations are almost always deeper than authentic Depression glass.

Next is to examine the weight of the piece. In the majority of cases, reproduction depression glass will be heavier than authentic Depression glass. The process in which the reproduction is manufactured mainly causes this. In the USA, when Depression glass was originally made, an IS (or injection) machine regulated the amount of glass that was pressed into the molds. This regulation of glass helped the original pieces to maintain a uniform weight over thousands of pieces.

Reproductions typically do not use the same technology and in the majority of cases, the glass is blown into molds either by hand or a non-regulated process. Thereby, making the reproduction pieces heavier, thicker and a wider difference in uniformity as opposed to their authentic counterparts. This is evident in the cases of reproduction tumblers that will have very thick bottoms, or butter dish lids that will be filled in at the lid’s underside.

The final notation to be aware of is the factory imperfections. Although imperfections on original Depression glass is normal, excess or blatant discrepancies are a dead giveaway. An occasional crease in the glass (also called a straw mark), a bubble or two or slight roughness on a seam line (or mold line) is normal in authentic Depression glass. If your piece has excessive bubbles, it is likely not an original, if you find several straw marks or creases, buyers beware! If the seam line or mold line has a lot of roughness, forget it, that piece is most likely, not authentic. The reason is, the USA manufacturers had quality control employees who would reject such pieces. The seam lines were usually cleaned, and excessive imperfections would have been recycled into the glass collet. Typical reproduction factories do not utilize quality control, and allow these excessively imperfect pieces to ship to the USA without inspection.

Use these tips to ensure that when you purchase an antique Depression glass piece, you are actually getting the original. Although there are some reproduction Depression glass pieces that are of a higher quality, in most cases being able to spot these quick differences may save you some grief (and money) later.

By: Jon Stein

Is It Depression Glass? Have you ever found yourself wondering about that pretty green glass candy dish that sits on grandma’s table? Chances are that colorful glass dish could be what is known to many as Depression glass. Depression Glass Bowl Set Now since I am no collector, I THINK what I have on my hands is a set of fef Federal Paneled Pink Depression Mixing Bowls – A pink depression glass paneled mixing bowl made by the Federal Glass Co.

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What make them unique is that each chandelier is expertly hand crafted and every piece of glass is individually hand blown. It ensures that two chandeliers will never be the same and you will have something exclusive in your home that reflects your personal taste. This also becomes a topic of conversation and admiration among your friends and family.

These hand blown glass chandeliers have stunning glass sculptures as well as lighting fixtures. The lovely light produced by these chandeliers creates a subtle glow and an awesome ambience around your room. Moreover, they emit fabulous artistic shadows on your walls and ceilings.

Types of hand blown glass chandeliers:

Considering its popularity, many light design manufacturers are now offering various hand blown chandeliers. Though some of these are more expensive, they are very popular as they offer exclusive pieces. The large variety of hand blown chandeliers includes:

Hand Blown Glass Pendant with One Light: These exquisite lights prove to be star of any room in your house. They are most suitable for focusing lights on specific work areas. They come in a large variety as per shapes, design and shades are concerned and the frame and matched ceiling canopy are mostly finished in nickel. You can even cut the cord in order to suit your desired hanging height.

Hand Blown Glass Pendant Chandelier with Multi Lights: The multi pendant lights feature nickel finished frame and matched ceiling canopy. They are simply perfect to shed ample light over your dining space. Most of these types of hand blown glass chandeliers have deep and rich colors as well as a heavier customized look and feel.

Hand Blown Glass Wall Sconce: These types of hand blown chandeliers come in a variety of colors and shapes. The frame and matched mount of a wall sconce is usually finished in chrome and give a refined look. They provide refraction or a bending of a wave path of light that seem to reflect off an immobile object and bounce into various routes, giving life to that object. You can find these hand blown glass wall sconces in single, double and triple lights.

By: Ketan Kulkarni

Crystal Chandeliers Will Beautify Your Home Chandeliers can also be made from diverse building materials such as shell, metals, and ordinary blown glass. Examples of viable metals are wrought iron, brass, and chrome, which came into vogue lately. And then there are rustic chandeliers , … The best crystal chandeliers blend in with their surrounding seamlessly and elegantly.  hand blown glass chandeliers these hand blown glass chandeliers have stunning glass sculptures as well as lighting fixtures. the lovely light produced by these chandeliers creates a subtle glow and an awesome ambience around your room decoration. Hand Blown Art Glass Hand blown glass chandeliers can be a beautiful addition to your home. This type of art glass becomes a focal point of the room. VINTAGE HANDBLOWN GLASS BLUE ROOSTER FIGURINE.

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These types of art glass are indeed very popular home dcor items and include glass pumpkins, bowls, goblets, vases, garden adornments, ring holders, perfume bottles, paperweights and glass paintings. They come in a huge range in terms of colors and design. You can also get custom installations in order to match the ambiance and space requirements of your room.

Types of hand blown art glass:

ainting in Glass:Hand blown glass paintings are marvelous pieces of art that are full of sophisticated beauty, enrichment of colors, magical brilliance and diligence. Until recently these stylish and classy glass paintings adored only the interiors of the royal and elites families. These hand blown glass paintings are distinguished for their eye-catching clarity, absolute brilliance and use of rich and bold colors and add an extra life to your living room.

Glass Bowls:You can use your decorative hand blown glass bowls for flowers or just keep them in the room as a decorative accent. The base colors are mostly bright and bold that capture and refract rays of light and create a great ambience. Apart from using these marvelous hand blown art glasses as a pedestal or coffee table piece, you can also use them as wall hangings.

Paperweights: The hand blown paperweights come in rich and bold colors as well as in many shapes and designs. They add eye catching colors to your working desk, study table, window sill of your living room, or anywhere else you like to. You can even personalize these paperweights and give them as gifts.

Glass Pumpkins: The hand blown glass pumpkins make a great gift during Halloweens. They are usually bright orange in color and have a nice ribbed side with curly or twisted jade green stems. The best part of these hand blown glass pumpkins are that they are exclusive and hence no chance of two pumpkin being alike.

Cleaning and maintaining hand blown art glasses:

Keep these hand blown art glasses out of direct sunlight as that can fade their colors over time.
Use small and soft bristled brush while cleaning dust from your hand blown art glasses.
Use warm water and a mild dishwashing detergent along with a soft cloth to wash these delicate art glasses.

By: Mahendra Solanki

Hand Blown Glass Vases
When you are looking for a unique accent to your home or you want to give a friend a gift that they will treasure forever, it might be time for you to take a look at hand blown glass vases! Glass vases will catch the eye in a way.

Hand Blown Art Glass
Introduction to hand blown art glass. Different types of hand blown art glass: hand blown glass paintings, hand blown glass bowls, hand blown glass pumpkins, hand blown paperweights. They are very popular home decor items.  

Hand Blown Glass Art Wholesale
hand blown glass vases These types of art glass are inde fef ed very popular home decor water drop items and include glass pumpkins, bowls, goblets, vases, garden adornments, ring holders, perfume bottles, paperweights and glass paintings.

HAND BLOWN ART GLASS STEEPED IN SWEDISH TRADITION
Creativity similar to this usually comes with palm blown art glass! Hand blown art potion by Orrefors goes behind to 1742 in Sweden as well. In fact, a Orrefors glassworks is not distant from Kosta.

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In Bohemia, the craft and art of glassmaking goes back over 600 years. Often a family tradition, the craftsmanship of glass is highly specialized from artwork to glassworks production. Today, Czech glass is still one of the European heirloom treasures to look for and select that "perfect unique gift."

After the collapse of the Communist Socialist system in 1989, state ran glass factories in Czechoslovakia started down the path of privatization. More and more, they became free to make their own business decisions on which kind of glass they wished to produce and offer to market. Importers from the West also have more choices on goods and glass manufacturers as they are no longer required to go through state specified channels. The result has made world-class custom glass products from Bohemia, readily available to the world economy.

 Collecting glass is an obsession to some. Locating and acquiring antique glass collectibles can be as exciting as finding new heirloom cut crystal from the shops of master craftsmen. From crystal chandeliers to colored decorative glass, Czech and Slovak pieces have become more sought after as centuries pass.

Heirloom crystal pieces can be cut to look like a faceted diamond in appearance. Leaded crystal is not the only top grade cut glass, some of the most elegant and expensive cut glass, in the world, contains no lead in it at all. Quality is reliant on the manufacturer and skill of the craftsmen rather than the type of glass produced.

Glass gifts are part of the civilized culture. Royalty often designated custom decorative glass pieces be made for occasions. Today, cut crystal has not lost its allure. Anniversary glass gifts can be cut crystal pieces or hand blown items. Cut crystal is selected for any anniversary year, but very often the 25th Anniversary gift and again for the 50th Anniversary present. Culinary and kitchen items have become popular for glass gifts of distinction. Gourmet kitchens often show off imported olive oil and aged vinegar, in hand blown decanters and cruets. Recently in vogue are glass-within-glass decanters of oil and vinegar. Their unique quality lends them to be an exceptional gift of European style and design.

Author: James Zeller

BJ Crystal Gifts The trumpet and the rim around the halo are goltone metal. All of the other pieces of the angel are Austrian crystal except th arms, which are optically clear hand-blown glass.

Hand-Blown Glass Fixtures Anyhow - I found a post that reminded me of that experience, talking about two handblown glass lamps offered. Instead of focusing on the two models, I dug a bit deeper and found other works by these two glass artists.

Delyn Glass Hand blown glass vase of daffodils Kevin Brown formed Delyn Glass in 1984, with the aid of a grant from the Prince’s Trust. In 1985 the company was honoured by a visit from their Royal Highnesses, Prince Charles and Princess Diana. … trees complete with cut crystal droplets, multicoloured lighting and their own stand, treat your Valentine with red roses and glass hearts and for Mothering Sunday why not give your Mum a vase of long lasting hand blown glass.

 Red Glass Hummingbird Feeder Includes Parasols patented Flower Feeding Tubes in red glass. Many feature red crystal droplets that dangle from the feeder to attract. Par-A-Sol Ruby Red Dew Drop Hummingbird Feeder This deluxe hand blown glass sphere is bright red.

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It was in ancient Mesopotamia that the art of glass blowing originated, when an innovator working with glass discovered that molten glass could be blown like a balloon when air is blown through a glass tube. This was followed by the use of metal pipes at least two centuries before the birth of Christ. This revolutionized glass production, and Romans rich and poor began using glass. The Roman Empire established glass-manufacturing centers in all parts of the kingdom and Italy, France, Germany, as well as Switzerland and many regions along the Mediterranean.

Like pipers who played music, skilled artisans endured intense heat to coax molten glass into beautiful forms much treasured by the world. A true art, each creation reflected its maker and nation. Venice perfected glass blowing and exported Venetian glass to all corners of the world.

The process of glass blowing was simplified by the Industrial Revolution, in 1820, when Bakewell, Page, and Bakewell patented the mechanical pressing of glass. At the end of the 19th century an American named Michael Owens invented an automatic bottle-blowing machine, and by the 1920s there were 200 automatic glass Blowing machines in operation in America. Glass progressed from being handmade to being mass-produced.

Today glass is mass-produced for everyday uses, while hand-blown glass is treasured by collectors and connoisseurs of glass as an art form.

Author: Jason Gluckman

Glass Blowing and Dale Chihuly Learn more about Chihuly and glass blowing at www.chihuly.com. chihuly_004.jpg. His influence can be seen throughout the Seattle area especially at the Museum of Glass where his Bridge of Glass is supposed to be a marvel to witness.

Where to Find Glass Blowing Supplies Finding glass blowing supplies is one of the first things to do if you are learning the art of glass blowing. Glass blowing is a rather expensive hobby, as there are a lot of specialized supplies and equipment you need to purchase.

Seattle Glassblowing Studio The Seattle Glassblowing Studio showcases intricate sculptures, colorful art sinks, delicate jewelry, artistic lighting, and a variety of other glass pieces.

The Art of Glass Blowing Glass blowing is a process that is used to shape glass. Limestone, sand, potash, and soda ash must first be combined and heated in a furnace at over 2000 F (1093.3 C). While the glass is in a molten state, the art of glass blowing

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Man-made rudimentary glass was made from silica sand, plant ash and lime. Over time it was discovered that if glass was heated until it became semi-liquid, it may be molded or shaped and left to cool into a solid new piece or vessel. In ancient times glass pieces were valued as a substitute for precious stones, gems, and gifts. During first century BC, the craft of melting and blowing glass into useable objects was developed. Glass pieces and items gradually became more common after the discovery of glassblowing. Objects such as vases, bottles, and cruets were mouth blown and mold blown during the Roman Empire, usually for ordinary purpose and daily use.

Common glass normally has a greenish hue. The green tint is caused by miniscule amounts of iron impurities in the sand used to make glass. Glass producers learned to make decorative and colored glass by adding metallic compounds and mineral oxides such as cobalt. Colored glass of reds, blues and greens became prevalent. After craftsmen learned to score and cut glass, they found clear glass refracted light in spectacular fashion. Thus, clear cut glass became popular, and demand for colored glass plummeted. Around 1000 AD, a new development was made in glassmaking. The glass making component of soda-lime, was replaced by potash obtained from wood ashes. From this time on, glass from the northern part of Europe differed greatly from that made in the Mediterranean area, where soda-lime remained in common use. Centuries later in Bohemia, ashes from beech trees were used.

The production of Bohemian ‘forest glass’ was progressively refined over the years. During the 11th century new ways of making sheet glass came about in Germany. Glass blowers would blow spheres, and then form them into cylinders. They would cut the glass while still hot and then flatten the glass into sheets. Glass makers in Venice, Italy improved this method in 13th century. By the late 1300’s there was as many as 20 glassworks in Bohemia and Moravia. The 12th century saw the arrival of stained glass production. Stained glass, another form of colored glass, was made by adding metal impurities. Church and monastery applications of stained glass can be traced back to examples that remain today, i.e. St. Bartholomew church in Kolin. A glass wall mosaic is preserved there from around 1380. Venice became the dominant center for glassmaking during the 14th century.

Here new glass making methods were developed and export trade such as mirrors, tableware, and decanters flourished. Secrets of glass making were highly guarded in Venice, but eventually glass workers moved to other areas of Europe taking their knowledge and skill with them. As ornate glassworks became more popular, Royalty began ordering decorative glass articles to be made, to give as gifts of distinction for occasions. A technique called ‘the Crown glass process’ was used to make glass until the mid part of the 1800s. A glassblower would spin around 9 lbs of molten glass at the end of a rod until it spread out into a flat disk nearly 5 feet across. The glass disk would then be cut into panes. Glass from Venice was highly prized for over four centuries as they managed to keep this technique secret. In 1688, a method for casting glass was invented. This led to glass and glass panes in becoming a much more common material.

The glass pressing machine was invented in 1827 and facilitated mass production of relatively inexpensive glass items. The glass pioneer, William J. Blenko, is recognized as first glass producer in America to use the cylinder method of creating flat glass by the 1920s. The Bohemian countries of Czech and Slovakia are still known today as two of the finest cut glass and cut crystal producers in the world. Cut crystal pieces are prized as elegant anniversary and birthday gifts.

By: suegold

The art of glassblowing
This week the Woodson Art Museum is featuring an exhibit call Wrapped In Glass. Students from Southern Illinois University brought their mobile hot-glass studio to demonstrate the glassblowing process.

GLASS BLOWING
GLASS BLOWING FLAME DEMO. Saturday, June 20th. 1:00-3:00pm. Witness a Pittsburgh Glass Center artist at the torch creating gravity defying intricate works of art such as beads or small sculpture with a heart stopping demonstration.

how To Blow Glass
glass blowing, Glass Blowing Glass Sculpting Working With Glass 4Books.

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