Gualala River
 
Gemstones & Terminology


Up
House
Garden
Outdoor Living
Jewelry
General Gifts
Children's Gifts
Antiques and Collectible
Special On The Web
Interesting Informations

 

Celebrations Antiques and Fine Gifts since 1988   707.884.3153  

 
 Home * House * Garden * Outdoor * Jewelry * General Gifts * Children's Gifts * Antiques & Collectible * Special On The Web
 
About Us  *  Contact Us  *  Order Form  *  Interesting Info  *  eMails  *  Site Map  View Updates  *  Search This Site  

  Glossary Of Glassmaking Terms  



If you have any additions, deletions, corrections, etc., please feel free to eMail them to me.
Also, I would love to hear from you if you find this information useful.

 


Anneal: 
When glass has been heated to a high enough temperature, it must be cooled by a controlled schedule of time and temperature or it will crack simply because of the strain inside the glass from the outside cooling faster than the inside.  The thicker the glass, the longer the cooling time must be.

Cased:  A thick layer (or layers) of glass on the outside of a piece created by blowing a cup of colored glass and keeping it hot, then blowing inside the cup with another color or clear.
Coldworking:  This is what is done to glass after it has been annealed.  Coldworking as a skill is completely different from hot glass furnace work.  All of the operations that involve grinding, blasting, carving, etching, cutting, or polishing are considered coldworking.
Combing or Combed:  Lines of color are threaded or otherwise laid down on a piece and then are pulled perpendicular to the lines with a sharp pointed tool.  If the tool has a single point, the pattern runs together at the point.  With a multipoint tool, the pattern stays more evenly spaced.

Etching:  Forming a frosted surface on the glass for the purpose of defining all or part of the design or for changing the texture of the surface.  This may be done by abrasive blasting, application of acid, by a copper wheel, or stone engraving or by diamond point scratching the surface.

Floor Model:  When a piece ends up smashed on the floor, it is called a floor model.

Gaffer:  This is an old term for grandfather.  In the glass business, it is used to describe the person with the most experience working glass.  It is this person who performs the most critical steps of the working and coordinates the rest of the team.
Glassblowing: 
This process involves collecting molten glass melted in a high temperature furnace and shaping it on the end of pipes and punties using tools that range from newspaper to high tech metals.
Glory Hole: 
A place for reheating glass.  This may be inside of a large multi-pot furnace.  It is usually hotter than the holding temperature of the glass furnace and is shut off overnight while the furnace continues to cook.
Grinding:  This leaves a frosted white surface.  If a clear polished surface is required, several additional steps are normally needed to remove the large scratches, then the finer scratches and then finally all of the haze.

Hot Shop: 
The physical area within a glass factory where the melting and working of furnace glass occurs.

Lampwork:  The process of manipulating glass with a gas burner to create flowers or other objects included in a paperweight.
Latticinio:  Swirl or spiral arrangement of threads of glass.

Millefiori:  Italian for "a thousand flowers"; describes the flower-like composite glass cross sections used in many antique weights.

Punty:  Most often a solid tipped rod with a hollow or solid shaft that is used to take the glass from the pipe so the lip can be formed.

Sulphide:  A three-dimensional ceramic medallion or portrait enclosed in a glass paperweight.

Threading or Threaded: 
A thin line of glass wound around the body.  It is created by touching to the piece the tip of a cone of molten glass on a punty and then turning the piece.  Application is easier with threading rollers which are two sets of wheels on which the punty or pipe is placed.  Because the wheels are set at an angle, each rotation moves the piece the same distance along the axis of rotation and the thread forms a spiral up the piece.

  

Articles supplied by Walter Spille from mentioned supplier and Information

   
Back to Top    Hit Counter   Last page update: 1/3/2005
 

Celebrations,  P.O. Box 790, Gualala, CA 95445 USA   707.884.3153
To view the updated pages on this site, click View Updates 
in above menu.
Site Policy  -  Customers Comments  -  Webmaster>Walter

Copyright © 2002-2012 Celebrations,  www.CelebrationsCA.com.
No part of this website may be reproduced by any means, electronic or any form thereof,
 without the expressed written permission of Celebrations.
All rights reserved.
All marks/logos are registered trademarks property of their respective owners.

If you encounter ANY PROBLEMS on this site, please eMail us on what happened or call us about it, Thank You.
Last site update:  2/5/2012 at 8:00pm

 

Hit Counter