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Blown Glass

It was my first visit to France/Italy in the 90s when I experienced hand blown glass at Murano and Burano. I also made friends with some of the well known hot glass artists there. Another place of interest was Altare in the northern hills of Italy were exquisite Flame working was done. I got a little practice of Blown glass in Murano and later in the US at the UrbanGlass centre at Brooklyn with my good friend (late) Mark Ferguson.

Blown – Graal – Arial: 

The transformation of raw materials into glass takes place around 2,400 °F (1,320 °C); the glass emits enough heat to appear almost white hot. The glass is then left to “fine out” (allowing the bubbles to rise out of the mass), and then the working temperature is reduced in the furnace to around 2,000 °F (1,090 °C). At this stage, the glass appears to be a bright orange color. “Soda-lime” glass remains somewhat plastic and workable as low as 1,350 °F (730 °C). Annealing is usually done between 700 and 900 °F (371 and 482 °C).

Glass blowing is a glass forming technique that involves inflating molten glass into a bubble, with the aid of a blowpipe, or blow tube. Further gathering of glass and blowing is done to make objects of art. Introduction of glass colours, coloured glass is also done as required.

The shaping is done with different types of hand tools made with steel, wood and paper. The shaping is done by free blowing or mold blowing.

Vijay Kowshik
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