Corning Museum of Glass

Glass that is colored by (1) impurities in the basic ingredients in the batch or (2) techniques of coloring glass by one of three main processes: (a) using a dissolved metallic oxide to impart a color throughout, (b) forming a dispersion of some substance in a colloidal state, and (c) suspending particles of pigments to form opaque colors.

The process of removing glass or imparting a matte finish by bombardment with fine grains of sand that are propelled by compressed air.

(1) A hole in the side of a glass furnace, used to reheat glass that is being fashioned or decorated; (2) a separate appliance for reheating glass.

The process of cutting into the surface of an annealed glass object either by holding it against a rotating copper wheel fed with an abrasive or by scratching it, usually with a diamond.

An enclosed structure for the production and application of heat. In glassmaking, furnaces are used for melting the batch, maintaining pots of glass in a molten state, and reheating partly formed objects at the glory hole.

The technique whereby glass is removed from the surface of an object by grinding it with rotating wheels made of stone, wood, and cork. The first stage of the process employs a stone wheel under a continuous stream of water. Later, wheels of fine-grained stone and wood, fed with various abrasives, are used to grind and polish the surface.

A term frequently used to mean all pre-Roman and ancient Roman glass.

Any object embedded in the surface of a larger object.

The removal of glass from the surface of an object by means of hand-held tools or sandblasting.

(1) A rounded, hollow vessel; (2) the uppermost part of a goblet, tazza, or wineglass.

(1) Several types of glass with newly developed surface textures, shaded colors, or casing, made in the United States from about 1870 and in Europe between about 1880 and 1900; (2) more generally, especially when written “art glass,” any ornamental glassware made since the mid-19th century.

A small pitcher for serving cream.

A pocket of gas trapped in glass during manufacture. The term is used both for bubbles introduced intentionally (known as air traps or beads) and for unwanted bubbles created during the melting process. Very small bubbles are known as seeds.

The technique of forming an object by inflating a gather or gob of molten glass on the end of a blowpipe. Traditionally and in modern furnace working, the gaffer blows through the tube, slightly inflating the gob, which is then manipulated into the required form by swinging it, rolling it on a marver, or shaping it with tools or in a mold. It is then inflated to the desired size. In flameworking, one end of the glass tube is heated and closed immediately, after which the worker blows into the other end and manipulates the hot glass.

The narrow part of a goblet or tazza that separates the bowl and the foot.

A component, usually bulbous, of the stem of a drinking glass, hollow or solid, used either singly or in groups, and placed contiguously or with intermediate spacing; also the finial at the center of a lid.

A term popularized in the 1960s for unique or limited-edition objects designed and made in a studio rather than a factory, often, but not necessarily, by the same person.

(Italian, “filigree glass”) The generic name for blown glass made with colorless, white, and sometimes colored canes. The filigrana style originated on the island of Murano in the 16th century and spread rapidly to other parts of Europe where façon de Venise glass was produced. Manufacture on Murano continued until the 18th century, and it was revived in the 20th century.

(Italian, “filigree glass”) The generic name for blown glass made with colorless, white, and sometimes colored canes. The filigrana style originated on the island of Murano in the 16th century and spread rapidly to other parts of Europe where façon de Venise glass was produced. Manufacture on Murano continued until the 18th century, and it was revived in the 20th century.

(Italian) The technique of constructing an object, usually a vessel, by fusing two or more blown glass elements. The process, first practiced in the Islamic world in the Middle Ages, demands great precision because the edges of the adjoining elements must have precisely the same diameter.

(Italian, “dappled”) A type of decorated glass developed in 1950-1951 by Fulvio Bianconi (1915-1996) for Venini & C. of Murano. The object is covered with a patchwork of rectangles of different colors, created by placing sections of flattened canes side by side on a metal plate, heating the slices until the glass is soft, and then picking them up on a colorless parison, smoothing them on a marver, and inflating the parison to the desired shape and size.

These terms are used inconsistently, especially in the context of contemporary glass. When used as a noun, murrina usually refers to a multicolored element embedded in an object, whereas murrine most often refers to slices of a complex cane.

(1) The process of founding or melting the batch; (2) heating pieces of glass in a kiln or furnace until they bond (see Casting and Kiln forming); (3) heating enameled glasses until the enamel bonds with the surface of the object.

A thin, monochrome rod, or a composite rod consisting of groups of rods of different colors, which are bundled together and fused to form a polychrome design that is visible when seen in cross section.

A monochrome segment of glass cut from a trail.

A popular term for colorless lead glass, which has a high refractive index and consequently is particularly brilliant. In the United Kingdom, glass described as crystal must contain a defined percentage of lead oxide. Today, the word is often used to describe any fine glass tableware.

(corruption of “grandfather”) The master craftsman in charge of a chair, or team, of hot-glass workers.

A strand of glass, roughly circular in section, drawn out from a gather.

The technique of forming objects from rods and tubes of glass that, when heated in a flame, become soft and can be manipulated into the desired shape. Formerly, the source of the flame was an oil or paraffin lamp used in conjunction with foot-powered bellows; today, gas-fueled torches are used.

Smoothing the surface of an object when it is cold by holding it against a rotating wheel fed with a fine abrasive such as pumice or cerium oxide. Glass can also be polished with hand-held tools.

A technique adapted from metalworking. The object to be fashioned in glass is modeled in wax and encased in clay or plaster that is heated. The wax melts and is released through vents or “gates,” also made of wax, which have been attached to the object before heating. The clay or plaster dries and becomes rigid. This then serves as a mold, into which molten or powdered glass is introduced through the gates. If powdered glass is used, the mold is heated in order to fuse the contents. After annealing, the mold is removed from the object, which is then finished by grinding, fire polishing, or acid etching.

(from French, “new art”) An international late 19th- and early 20th-century decorative style characterized by organic foliate forms, sinuous lines, and non-geometric, “whiplash” curves. Art Nouveau originated in Europe in the late 1880s, and reached the peak of its popularity around 1900. In America, it inspired, among others, Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933). The name is derived from La Maison de l’Art Nouveau, a gallery for interior design that opened in Paris in 1896. The German term for Art Nouveau is Jugendstil.

From French, Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, an exhibition in Paris in 1925. A style of design that originated in the 1920s and was popular in western Europe and the United States in the 1930s. Art Deco is distinguished by simple, streamlined shapes and frequently by nonrepresentational motifs.

The generic name for a wide variety of techniques used to form glass in a mold.

A form used for shaping and/ or decorating molten glass. Some molds (e.g., dip molds) impart a pattern to the parison, which is then withdrawn, and blown and tooled to the desired shape and size; other molds (sometimes known as full-size molds) are used to give the object its final form, with or without decoration. Dip molds consist of a single part and are usually shaped like beakers. Full-size molds usually have two or more parts and can be opened to extract the object. Nowadays, most molds are made of metal, but stone, wood, plaster, and earthenware molds were used in the past and are still occasionally employed today.

(Noun) A mass of molten glass (sometimes called a gob) collected on the end of a blowpipe, pontil, or gathering iron; (verb) to collect molten glass on the end of a tool.

The initial phase of melting batch. For many modern glasses, the materials must be heated to a temperature of about 2450°F (1400°C). This is followed by a maturing period, during which the molten glass cools to a working temperature of about 2000°F (1100°C).

(from French salière, “salt dish”) A small bowl used at the table for salt.