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
The "12 Days of Christmas" ornament series returns in 2009. Waterford first introduced the series in 1982, making one ornament in the series available each holiday season until all twelve of the ornaments had been featured and the series was complete.
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.
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.