GLASSBLOWING AND BEAD MAKING TERMS

CANE: glass that has been stretched out into long, relatively thin rods or tubes (in the case of beads)

cane may be designed so it is looked at from the side (single color cane and latticinio are examples of this....cane may be designed so it is looked at from the end, as in murrini and millifiore cane, from which cross sections are cut.

BLOWPIPE - Hollow steel pipe with a stainless steel end on which to gather the molten glass, and form any blown piece.

PONTIL ROD - solid steel rod

DRAWN BEADS - formed on the end of a blowpipe, using the "off-hand" blowing technique, and then stretched or drawn out into a long tube (bead stock) which is then cut into smaller pieces and finished in a variety of different ways. They are, very basically, a bubble that is stretched out. The bubble creates the hole.

CHEVRON BEADS - Ask Jamie Alan for a better def. Drawn beads composed of overlayed colors, in which each color has been put into an optic mold before overlaying the next color. These beads are then hand ground to varying degrees through the outside layers. The "high" points are ground off first, revealing the "chevron" design. Traditional shape is an elipse.

MARVER - Steel or marble table used for forming and cooling the hot glass while it is still on the pipe or pontil rod by rolling the piece on the table at various angles.

MARVERING - rolling the glass on the marver for purposed of shaping and/or cooling.

BENCH - two armed bench where the blower sits, and works the piece with hand tools. The pipe is rolled horizontally on the two metal arms of the bench.

TEMP OF MOLTEN GLASS IN FURNACE - approx. 2000 F

TEMP. OF GLORY HOLE - approx. 2300 F

GLORY HOLE - Gas fired heating and reheating unit. The glassblower moves back and forth between the bench, the marver and the glory hole as he/she

works the glass.

POST - glass is gathered onto the end of the pontil rod, and allowed to flatten into the shape of a cookie. The post is used to attach to the other end of the "pull" and draw the cane or bead out.

PASTORALE - metal plate which cane is layed upon. The plate is heated in the glory hole until the cane are fused together or close to being fused. The glassblower then picks up the cane on either the pipe, solid glass, or a bubble by rolling it over the hot cane, right to left. It is most important the the measurements be precise when picking up cane on a bubble, (as in beadmaking.)

CANE PICK UP - picking up cane from the pastorale or out of a heated mold

HOT WORK - work done at the furnace or glory hole (in the "hot shop")

COLD WORK - work done after the glass is annealed and cold. Usually refers to grinding, polishing, sandblasting, cutting, engraving.

DIAMOND SAW , WHEELS - lapidary equipment used for the cutting and rough grinding of the chevrons.

TUMBLER- a vibrating, lapidary machine used for the 4 or 5 polishing steps of the beads. After the beads are rough, and then fine ground, they stay in the tumbler for approx. two weeks, vibrating with a slurry of water and finer and finer grits until they are polished.

The grits used are silicon carbide, pumice, micro-aluminia and tin oxide.

ANNEALING - After a blown glass piece is finished, it must "soak" in a kiln at precisely annealing temperature for various amounts of time, depending on the thickness of the glass. It must then be brought down slowly to room temperature to take any stress out of the glass piece and insure against cracking and breakage. Annealing temp. for our glass is approx. 900 F.