Making Glass

The photo and the text are from Lauscha Lady's newsletter. Since we were just talking about murrini I thought I'd repost it here because it's a great shot of how hand pulled glass is made.  This is a German glass and very beautiful.  They pull those huge wads of glass to 5/6mm thick for the rest of us to use in our flames. It takes three to do it as one lays down the crossbars the glass lays against or uses a paddle to hold a sag while the other two are holding or pulling the larger gather. I just can not imagine the strength it takes to do that. Amazing stuff glass!  The reason they are referring to the clarity of the transparent glass is that their clear is a favorite among glass artists who want to encase their beads.  It is beautiful.  My favorite is their opaque red...I just love their red.



Hand pulling glass rod.

Hand pulled versus machine made = more pristine.  What this means is that a team of three people are involved in rod making.  Two pull the gather into the diameter needed.  Then a third cuts the pull into meter long rods. This is how it’s been done traditionally for 150 years. That is the reason the clears and transparents are exquisite.  Not touched by hard machines, just pulled in the same manner we pull a stringer.