A surface decorated with many small, adjoining pieces of varicolored materials, such as stone or glass.

A tool made from a block of wood hollowed out to form a hemispherical recess. After it has been dipped in water to reduce charring and to create a “cushion” of steam, the block is used to form the gather into a sphere before it is inflated.

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

A device for holding a drawn curtain back from the window. Some 19th- and 20th-century tiebacks have glass pommels or bosses.

Glassware formed by placing a blob of molten glass in a metal mold and pressing it with a metal plunger or “follower” to form the inside shape. The resultant piece, termed “mold-pressed,” has an interior form independent of the exterior, in contrast to mold-blown glass, whose interior corresponds to the outer form. The process of pressing glass was first mechanized in the United States between 1820 and 1830.

A bottle for perfume or toilet water. Ancient Roman toilet bottles are frequently known as unguentaria.

(from Latin), pl. unguentaria. A term commonly applied to ancient Roman toilet bottles. It appears, however, that the term was “invented” in the 19th century, on analogy with unguentarius (perfume seller) and similar Latin words that the Romans used in connection with perfumes.

A long, thin rod used to gather molten glass.

A glassworker’s tool in the form of a square wooden paddle with a handle. Battledores are used to smooth the bottoms of vessels and other objects.

(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.

An iron or steel tube, usually four to five feet long, for blowing glass. Blowpipes have a mouthpiece at one end and are usually fitted at the other end with a metal ring that helps to retain the gather.

A tool consisting of two rectangular pieces of wood joined at one end by a leather hinge. There is an aperture in one of the pieces of wood, and this holds the stem of a goblet or wineglass while it is being made. The clapper is used to squeeze a blob of glass in order to form the foot.

A glassworker’s tool used for decorating objects by pinching the glass while it is hot.

A tool used for decorating objects by giving them a crimped or wavy edge.

A glassworker’s tool consisting of a square piece of wood or metal and a handle. It is used to flatten the bases of vessels.

A tool used to trim excess hot glass from an object in the course of production. Many modern shears are embedded with chips of industrial diamonds.

The pontil, or punty, is a solid metal rod that is usually tipped with a wad of hot glass, then applied to the base of a vessel to hold it during manufacture. It often leaves an irregular or ring-shaped scar on the base when removed. This is called the “pontil mark.”

A glassworker’s tool made of wood in the shape of a cone and with a handle. It is used to form the lip at the mouth of a vessel.

A tool with two metal arms joined at one end by a spring. The distance between the arms is controlled by the glassworker, who uses jacks for a variety of purposes while shaping the parison (for example, to form the mouths of open vessels). This tool is also known as a borsella or pucellas.

Any instrument used by glassworkers to develop and shape an object. Glassworkers’ tools include the blowpipe, pontil, gathering iron, jacks, shears, clapper, pallet, block, pincers, battledore, lipper, and crimper.

A wavy, festooned, feathery, or zigzag pattern of decoration in two or more colors, produced by applying threads of opaque glass of a color different from that of the molten glass body. The threads are rolled into the glass body by marvering, after which they are combed or dragged to achieve the desired effect.