With its ability to resemble natural materials, glass is an obvious material for use in jewelry. Roman glass makers worked to make cups that resembled polished agate cups for those who could not afford the real ones. The agate-like glass was also used to make intaglio (symbol carved into the surface of the stone) seals [...]
Can you collect glass furniture? Sure you can. But keep these things in mind: if you care going to use it as well, you need to be very serious about protecting it from breakage or scratching. You are also going to be willing to give up a wooden piece if you find [...]
OK, for those of you who like to know how things are made, here is a brief lesson in making glass, the material itself.
First, the raw ingredients are placed in a pot. These include:
silica sand (usually washed to remove extraneous material)
soda (originally ash from plants, now potash which is mined) to make the silica [...]
Black glass is a term used for very dark colored glass as well as glass that is actually black. Usually a very dark purple or a darkly colored bottle of any color may seem to be black. The true color can be determined by holding the item to the light: usually a thinner section will [...]
Here are more strange, and perhaps wonderful, uses for glass.
Eyecups: In days past, eyes were washed with various liquids to counter problems. To do this, the eyecup was created. Its outer edge is molded to fit the orbital opening in the skull, and the reservoir is only large enough to hold a small portion of [...]
Stained glass was developed in Europe when the Gothic building style moved the load bearing walls perpendicular to the pillars and the space between pillars could be filled with colored glass. The windows that were developed then were for the glory of God, and are quite awe inspiring today.
To collect stained glass in the [...]
by Guest Poster
Glass wall art is a sophisticated and inexpensive way to decorate your home. Whether you want rooms of your house to feel like an art gallery or just feel like home, glass art is an excellent choice. There are infinite possibilities when it comes to glass, so there is bound to [...]
The most obvious, and delightful, use of glass is in the field of lighting. Glass provides a relatively safe receptacle for the source of the light, and the perfect way of disseminating or directing the light where needed.
A glass reservoir for an oil lamp contains the fuel and provides a way to see how much [...]
There a number of items that can be found on the desk or table top that are made out of glass. Let’s start with the desk.
Glass in and out trays are available for those people who have large desk tops where stacking trays are not needed. Glass in-and-out trays would also make great gifts [...]
One of best glass collectibles, I think, are Christmas ornaments. These come in several varieties: thin-walled tree ornaments, thicker-walled ornaments, and lampwork ornaments.
Thin-walled ornaments, light enough to be hung on the ends of tree branches, have been exported from Germany, Poland and many other places in Europe. These are usually sold in sets of matching [...]
Enamel paints, basically liquid glass, are used on glass objects for decoration. Enamel paints can be cold applied, where simple drying is all that is necessary, or hot applied, where the glass item must be heated to some extent to fix the painted decoration. Cold enamels are subject to wearing off with use, and must [...]
Once the shape has been made by the glass blower, a spout can be formed by pulling the lip. Additional glass is gathered from the melting pot, and formed into a handle.
This handle is applied before the object is annealed.
(Photo by the author.)
Another form of decoration is called threading. A gather of glass is pulled [...]