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May 20, 2010
The Roman historian Pliny relates the legend of Phoenician merchants in 500 BCE discovering molten glass when cooking their meal. Archaeological remains of river valley civilizations in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Indus Valley reveal the existence of man-made glass beads dating to around 3500 BCE. Mesopotamia, Egypt, Mycenae, and China were well known as glassmaking nations. And, details of the process of producing glass are to be found on stone tablets from the library of the Assyrian king Asherbanipal dating to 650 BCE.
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
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Tags: Glass Blowing, hand blown glass.