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A bit of general information if this glass stuff interests you.:
The Discovery of Glass
Natural glass has been on Earth since the begining of time, through volcanic activity, meterorites ,lightning.
In a situation of intense heat and pressure certain material fuse together then solidify.
Obsidian which is a natural volcanic glass was used for the making of Stone Age man's tools.
Human adornment .
When did this all begin?
In excess of thousands of years ago, intially with shells, seeds etc onto leather thongs.
The human's drive for adornment happened for a lot of reasons.
First of all no clothes or not many ,meant no pockets! - so hanging essential and or precious items around ones neck or wrist would have not only been a jolly good but also a very practical idea.
Adornment would have been also been a way to be identified with ones group, tribe etc and I guess finer points like who was the boss of whom. I think it went from there, who was married to who, who you could harrass and who you should leave alone.
These adornment rituals are just as important to humans today.
History of Glass Making.
The earliest man made glass objects where thought to date back to 3,500 years BC. These objects were discovered in Mesopotamia and Egypt. It was thought that basic raw materials of glass were being used to glaze pots and vases.
It is felt that the discovery may have happened in effect, by accident.Calciferous sand finding its way into an overheated kiln and combining with soda to form a glaze on pots.
From there the phonecian merchants and sailors spread this new art along the Mediterranean.
The oldest fragments of glass vases date back to 16th century BC. Hollow glass production was also happening in Egypt, Greece , China and Northern Tyrol.
Glass Blowing
Started 27 BC to 14 AD and was attributed to the Syrians.
Where did the Romans fit in?
As a society they had a florishing community of glass workers across Western Europe and the Mediteranean.
Roman Glass has even been found in China as well as everywhere else!.
The Romans started to make windows in 100AD in Alexandria.
Alexandria ended up being the hub of the Roman glass production. they made items for export. This is where the world famous Portland Vase appeared
Pompeii even had cast glass windows.
In the middle ages, archaeological digs uncovered near Venice. In the year 1000 there was a HUGE change in glassmaking techniques. There were huge difficulties getting enough raw materials to make the glass the soda lime was replaced by using pot ash from burning trees. This, I have read elsewhere had a devastating effect on the forests. This is where there developed differences in the Germanic verses the Venetian Glasses.
The Venetians went on the making sheet glass, and hence windows with better optics were created and fitted into all the wonderful buildings.
In the Middle ages Venice assumed the role as the glass making centre of Western Europe.
It is known that at this time there were over 8000 craftsman working with glass in Venice. Non Ventians were not allowwed to work in Venice or with glass ( Wow ...I am glad that has changed!).
Until the close of the 13th Century most of the glass was made in Venice itself ,but because of the very frequent fires caused by the furnaces in 1291 they were all sent to the Island of Murano. This was to keep Venice safe I expect from burning down !! but also it was a good place to contain all of their secrets and to ensure no one took their methods else where. They were all under the threat of death if they divulged any secrets.
A parallel lot of glassmakers were at work in Genoa. These rules were more lax and because of this their methods spread to other places (like France) unlike the secret squirrels of Murano.
Toward middle of the 1600's the Murano craftsman started using quartz sand and pot ash made from sea plants.
By the end of the 16th century 3000 of Murano's 7000 inhabitants were working with glass.
Lead Crystal ( interesting to me as I was bought up in a China & Crystal shop)
English glassmaker-George Ravenscroft (1618-1681) he patented this in 1674. He had been asked to find a substitute for the Venetian crystal produced with the pot ash and pure quartz. he found that by usung higher proportions of lead oxide he produced a brilliant glass with a high refractive index , ideal for engraving and cutting.
What about Glass Beads??
Wound and core formed glass beads were found as early as 2340-2180 BC. In every place it seems from Mesopotamia to Russia.
In 1500 BC complicated mosaic made beads were found in "Nuzi" just North of Bagdad,Iraq.
Someone found over 11,000 glass beads there.
There have been 3 distinct eras in the making of Glass Beads ,The Egyptian, The Roman, and The Islamic influenced eras. I have read a statement to the effect that when all 3 of these great empires fell, the glass beads went with them only to re-emerge later on by other societies .
Faience is thought to be the first type of glass like material ( it is a glazed fused quartz composite )to be made into various types of beads. The Egyptians even had glass making guilds, they used the faience to imitiate precious stones like lapis lazuli (only found in Afghanistan )and turquoise.
Phoenecia also (now Lebanon) made alot of beads and exported then to the Etrustans.
Other cultures in these times were doing the same things!From the Celts 900BC to the Swiss 400BC. Ceylon and India were making false gems in 3 BC.
India were first to make FOIL BEADS (interesting eh? as the Venetians claim them).
In 100 BC to 400AD-Syria Egypt, Italy ,Switzerland, Rhineland,France and England (AKA the Roman Empire !) the blow pipe was invented , use much less glass -therefore more economical.
Lampworking was just that - little oil lamps that melted the glass whilst the artisan blew air into the flame -see the link http://www.glass.co.nz/lampwork.html a great website from of all places New Zealand.
It is still called lampwork today even though its gas and torch that is used to melt the glass. Some lampworkers use oxygen from a bottle or a medical oxygen concentrator.( I am still on the single LPG bulk fuel using the oxygen only from the air.)
Up until recently there have been very few lampworkers in New Zealand. It is becoming more popular now one can get lessons.... www.annierose.com
3.5 +years ago when I first put my beads on Trademe I used to be the only Lampworker calling my beads that.
Now Trademe is full of cheap , imported ,mass produced ,sweatshop"lampwork" beads.
Easy to spot because of the price. They are dirty and the holes in the beads are still full of bead release (hazardas if inhaled.)
The most troubling aspect is these beads are not annealed.
This means basically they weren't directly placed in a hot kiln when they were made.
When the finished bead is annealed in the hot kiln it is given time to reduce to prospect of thermal shock, apparently the molecules in the bead realign themselves and restablise the glass.
Beads that are not annealed can crack, break or explode.
Where does the glass that I use come from?
My glass comes mainly from Lauscha and Reisenbach from Germany, Aim and messy Glass from the US , gaffer Glass from New Zealand,Moretti & Vetrofond from Venice and some czech. ,
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