Mark Megahan
The inherent beauty of glass has been recognized by artists since it was discovered by the Phoenicians back in 3,500 BC. Just making the stuff in the first place was a huge curiosity. As craftsmen played with the new technology, it became a quest for the “clearest” glass melted from the finest sand. Even the most transparent of glass can be shaped into an infinity of free-form surfaces and solids. The next level for artists was the cutting and fine etching of glass and crystal. Adding color to the mix seems to create the ability for creative artists to virtually sculpt with liquid light, frozen eternally for everyone to enjoy.
The beauty of molten sand
There are all sorts of ways that glass can be used as an artistic medium to create works of sublime beauty. The one we’re most familiar with is stained glass. Once seen only in churches and cathedrals, it’s become a trendy choice for urban decorators.
When glass was first invented, the Egyptians cornered the market on it’s use. In the process, they “developed the technique of core-forming and cold cutting.”
Around the 1st century AD Romans were working glass and at the same time “artisans around the Babylonian area also developed glass blowing.” That really changed things in the ancient world. Glass beads were the thing to have for any stylish merchant in Persia.
Eventually, the beads became “colorless glass tubes.” By the 11th century, “Islamic Spain started producing clear glass mirrors.” What could be more a thing of beauty to behold than yourself?
In Asia, Chinese and Indian artists explored various techniques of molding, coloring, and decorating techniques. The Chinese discovered the effects of “high barium and lead content on their glasses.”
Things really took off for the glass art business in Europe. Nobody appreciated the beauty of glass more than the artists on Murano Island in Venice.
All across the world
It didn’t take long for the rest of the world to start stealing the secrets and soon, “France, Bohemia, England, Germany, and other European countries claimed their fame and contribution to what we know as modern glass art.” Even something as simple as a bottle could be worth a fortune in beauty and craftsmanship.
Along with the artistry of glass, it was quickly recognized as a practical substance. Bottles and jars where you could see the contents was something nobody had seen before. Glass may be brittle but it’s hard and takes quite a beating, unless scratched. One tiny scratch can weaken the piece enough that the slightest shock will shatter it.
Hot glass is used for all the blown, sculpted and cast glass. Using a long iron pipe, glassblowers combine shaping molds with the blowing technique to form an endless variety of beauty and creativity in their pieces.
The free-blowing of glass, they say, is “tricky and needs expertise and control to shape it as the glassblower desires.”
With the warm glass technique, the glass is heated in a kiln to to point where it bends or “slumps.” Once the consistency of taffy, the artist can mold or shape it in any way desired. Glass at the same temperature can also be fused together, melting glass of various colors into a work of absolute beauty.
With the “kiln casting” technique, a powdered glass paste gets molded then melted into a single piece in the kiln. Working with cold glass requires grinding or etching. Anything from sandblasting to hydrofluric acid can be used to etch intricate designs in glass.
