Starting with an undecorated blank, the cutter draws guiding lines with red wax. The cuts are roughed in with metal wheels, then smoothed and polished with successive passes over the pattern using stone and wooden wheels. A small bowl could be cut in a few hours, but a large vase could take 70 to 100 hours of work. By 1900, cut glass was often dipped in an acid bath to polish it, a less expensive way to achieve the sparkling surface.