Corning Museum of Glass

The technique of decorating glass in high relief by cutting or carving away part of the glass between the body of an object and its decoration (e.g., on a cage cup).

An ancient Roman vessel decorated by undercutting so that the surface decoration stands free of the body of the glass, supported by struts. The vessel appears, therefore, to be enclosed in an openwork cage. Cage cups are sometimes known as diatreta or vasa diatreta.

A term used by Frederick Carder (1863-1963) to describe openwork objects that he made by lost wax casting.

Work that is perforated. Openwork in glass objects can be made by creating a network of trails, by casting (see Diatreta), or by cutting (see Cage cup).

The technique of removing the surface of an object with a rotating wheel fed with an abrasive, or by some other means.

A decorative technique in which gold or silver leaf is applied to the back side of a piece of glass, engraved, and protected by varnish, metal foil, or another piece of 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.

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.

(French, “manner, or style, of Venice”) Glass made in imitation of Venetian products, at centers other than Venice itself. Façon de Venise glass was popular in many parts of Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries.

(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.

An air-filled void, which may be of almost any shape. Air traps in stems are frequently tearshaped or elongated and spirally twisted.

A type of decoration in the stems of 18th-century and later drinking glasses, made by twisting a glass rod embedded with threads of white glass, threads of colored glass, columns of air (air twists), or a combination of all three.

(Italian, “glass with a small network”) A type of blown glass made with canes organized in a crisscross pattern to form a fine net, which may contain tiny air traps.

(Italian, “glass with a small network”) A type of blown glass made with canes organized in a crisscross pattern to form a fine net, which may contain tiny air traps.

Inflating a parison of hot glass in a mold. The glass is forced against the inner surfaces of the mold and assumes its shape, together with any decoration that it bears.

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.