Glassblowing

Glassblowing is a centuries-old technique for inflating dissolved and heated glass into a bubble. A glassblower, or glassmith, inflates molten glass with the help of a blow pipe or blow tube. Typical glassblowing involves the use of three furnaces. The first furnace contains the molten glass crucible, called the furnace. The second furnace is called the glory hole, which is used to reheat a piece of molten glass in between working it. The third or final furnace is called the "lehr" or "annealer". This furnace is used to slowly cool the glass.

Tools Used For Glassblowing
The major glassblowing tools include the blowpipe or blow tube, the punty or punt, marver, bench, blocks, seers, jacks, paddles, tweezers and shears. The blowpipe's tip is first heated, and then it's dipped in molten glass in the furnace. Then the molten glass is gathered onto the blowpipe, in the same manner that honey is picked up by a dipper.

The Principles behind Glassblowing
The inventors of glassblowing stumbled upon a property of glass that was previously unknown to glass workers, inflation. Inflation is the term for the expansion of the molten glass blob, after a small amount of air is introduced or blown, into it. This is due to the liquid structure of glass, where atoms are held together by chemical bonds, which are arranged in a disordered or random network. This allows molten glass to be viscous enough to be blown, where it slowly hardens once it loses heat.

History of Glassblowing
The art of glassblowing was introduced in the middle of the 1st Century B.C. The process of free-blowing involved blowing short puffs of air into the molten glass that's gathered at the tip of the blowpipe. The blowing creates an elastic skin on the interior of the glass, which also matches the exterior cause by the removal of heat from the furnace. The glassblower then blows up the molten glass, and works it into a desired shape or design.

Glassblowing was first invented by the Phoenicians along the Syria-Palestine coastline. Some of the ancient Phoenician glass tubes recovered were closed at one end, and were inflated by blowing through the open end while still hot, to form a small bottle. Tube blowing, according to historians, evolved not only because glassworkers were experimenting on new ways to blow glass, but also to induce some changes in conceiving glass, as well as gain a deeper understanding of the properties of glass.

The glassblowing tradition came to Europe during the medieval period, after the collapse of the Roman Empire in 5 A.D. The Germans, or Franks as they were then called, had created corrugated moulds and developed decorating techniques. Drinking vessels that simulated the shape of animal horns were produced in the Rhine and Meuse valley. During the Renaissance, Italy saw a revitalized interest in glass blowing. Glassblowing was employed by workers in Venice, to produce fine glassware designs, which are called cristallo. Glassblowing then gained popularity worldwide, and was prevalent in countries such as Japan, China and the Middle East. In the Middle East, Byzantine glassworkers were known to have designed both Christian and Jewish symbols during the late sixth century. Archaeologists also discovered mould-blown vessels that featured a linear-cut decoration, in Sammara, a region located in what is now Iraq.

Modern Trends in Glassblowing
Modern glassblowing versions came into light with the entry of the 20th Century. In 1962 for example, Harvey Littleton, a ceramics professor, and Dominick Labino, a chemist, founded the Studio Glass Movement. These two individuals were credited for being the first to make molten glass available to different artists who were working in private studios or shops. This novel glassmaking approach also gained global adherence, where artists such as Dante Marioni, Marvin Lipofski, Dale Chihuly and others created wonderful designs, and offered their expertise to interested artists.