A big puff of air

Glass blowing is a delicate art form with a long history in the United Kingdom. The basic premise is that a molten piece of glass is inflated into a bubble and then moulded into its given shape.

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Glass blowing can be undertaken in a variety of different ways but all with the same aim in mind. To create a beautiful piece of glassware. Whether this is a traditional glass, a bowl, piece of art or even for a company such as http://roccoborghese.com/ who sell Chandeliers UK.

Mould-Blowing

This is a technique that involves a molten piece of glass being placed on the end of the pipe and is then inflated into a carved mould made from with wood or metal. Mould-blowing was introduced as a way of creating uniformly similar pieces of glassware as the design is determined by the pattern and shape of the mould not the skill and expertise of the glassblower. This in turn helped to speed up the product process and enabled companies and individual glass blowers to create objects in larger quantities. The main items that are produced are decorative vases and candlestick holders. The process itself is rather simple. Molten glass in globule from is inserted at one end of the Mould. The Mould is then blown into so that the glass forms itself around the end. Whilst the glass is still warm it is then transfer to a second larger Mould and another glob is insert and blown. This is repeated at least 5 times so that a strong layered glass product is produced. It also allows for the addition of textures and layering.

Free-Blowing

This is the first and most traditional method of glass blowing. Where a piece of molten glass is placed on the end of the blowpipe and the glass blower uses small puffs of air to inflate the glass bubble whilst moulding it in to shape by hand. Free-Blowing is still used today, especially for pieces of artistic work.

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Modern techniques

Naturally the emphasis is production rather than artistic merit but beautiful pieces are still created. This uses 3 furnaces as opposed to one. First is the furnace where the glass is made molten, next is the glory hole. This is used to reheat pieces that are to be worked in the final structure. Final we have the exotically named lehr. This slowly brings down the temperature of the glass and can take anywhere between a number of days, or hours, to achieve. This is done to promote strength within the structure.