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Glassblowing

Glassblowing is the process of creating objects out of glass by sinking the heated end of a pipe (blowing pipe) into molten glass, turning it, and then inflating the glass like a balloon. Glassblowing exists since 50 B.C.

The technique of making glass seems to be quite old (around 5000 B.C.) and was discovered by mistake. By using blocks of soda instead of cooking stones the Phoenician sailors observed that sand and soda turned into molten glass once the temperature increased.

In our glass studio, we use small pieces of glass coming from a bigger factory in order to obtain the molten glass.

How the objects are made

The glassblowers take the glass using a blowing pipe. This process has to be very fast, otherwise the molten glass become cold and the process of inflating cannot take place anymore. Every ball taken from the oven is checked for purity and if the test pass, the ball is inflated until we reach the wanted size.

The glass ball at the end of pipe has to be formed using wooden tools, until is symmetrical shaped and this is first time when air is blown into it.

New molten glass is brought forming the leg of the object or other decorations.

After the object is well shaped, the final adjustments has to be made (cutting, rewarming, opening, ...).

After the object is finished, the piece is placed into a special oven to cool (to anneal). Glass is cooled in about 12 hours in order to remove all internal tension from the glass. Annealing prevents the object from cracking.