The Art of Making Glass

Natural glass has existed since the beginning of time, but did you know that manufactured glass was discovered by mistake?! ……. Well it was, according to Roman philosopher Pliny The Elder, in his work called “Naturalis Historia”, Phoenician merchants, in their way to Egypt, needed some stones to put their pots for cooking their meal, the next day they found that these stones were melted and mixed with local sand creating a solid and shining element: glass!!

In the beginning, making glass, was hard and slow, glass melting furnaces were small and the heat produced wasn’t enough to melt the elements, until the 1srt century B.C. that a Syrian craftsman invented the blowpipe. From this moment on glass products were more accessible to people and the art of glass making spreads in many countries.

As an art and craft element, glass is worked with different techniques.

Stained Glass also known as “cold glass”. The artist doesn’t heat to melt the glass itself. Glass pieces are arranged to form a pattern or picture and held together with strips of lead and supported by a rigid frame. It’s used in architecture and design to create stained glass windows in churches, houses or buildings of any kind, and as a major decorative element in public places.

Blown glass or “hot glass”. Glassblowing is one of the most known techniques. Involves inflating a hot bubble glass with a blowpipe to create an art piece. One of the most renowned blown glass in the world is the Venetian Glass. Murano Island is one of the prominent centers of glassblowing production in the world because of its traditions. Even though they produce big quantities of pieces, they still use the original method, century-old recipes (the exact combination of minerals and melting elements) and generations of artistic craftsmanship creating pieces of great value.

Warm Glass or kiln forming technique. Is where the artist uses the high temperatures of a kiln or furnace to shape the art piece. There are two types: Cast Glass when is used a mold to create the object and Fused Glass where glass doesn’t arrive to its liquid state but is heated enough to bond together the pieces creating an artwork. It is used in art therapy.

For centuries, glass has been an important element but is the turn of the 19th century what took the glass art to new levels. Artists all over the world took this element and begun to express themselves through it. Blown and fused glass techniques are the two most used by them. From jewelry, vessels and plates to sculptures, glass can be as versatile and audacious as the artist itself.

Next time you have a glass piece in your hands think on how was made, think that once that vessel was just a red fused hot ball impossible to be touched or that tray you have at home was just a lot of glass strips or fragments and with the intuition and extraordinary knowledge of “someone” out there it has been transformed in a beautiful and unique art piece that beautifly decorate your table for your next dinner.