"Annealed glass," "safety glass," "tempered glass"... Confused? Learn the differences through these Glass Breaking Demos.

Molten glass can be cast by a method virtually identical to that used for casting metal. Here, molten glass at 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit is ladled into a mold made of sand. The process is relatively easy as hot glassworking processes go... but hot!

Cutting thin sheet glass is almost as easy as it looks in this video clip... but not quite! Curves really are much trickier than straight lines. The process shown would have been completely familiar to medieval window glaziers.

Learn about flameworking with Corning Museum of Glass experts. Flameworking is the technique of taking glass rods or tubes and heating them in a concentrated flame until they become soft.

Chunks of glass are placed in a mold, then heated in a kiln until the glass softens and flows downward to gradually fill the mold. Popular with contemporary artists, this method avoids the need for a giant melting furnace filled with molten glass.

Five different methods of using colored glass are demonstrated; some produce a uniformly colored object, others a splotchy or mottled effect. Glass artists today use whatever method best suits their aesthetic choices.

Roman glassworkers, tirelessly creative and inventive, were fond of folding and manipulating inflated glass in a variety of ways for different purposes. Two of their characteristic structures—both functional and beautiful—are demonstrated.

As if glassblowing wasn't fast enough—it takes under three minutes to make a Roman bottle—cracking-off made the process even faster. This technique was well known by AD 20 or so, and cut the manufacturing time of simple tumblers in half.

While glass canes can be used alone, for example as stirring rods, usually they are incorporated in vessels or sculpture. An infinite variety of decoration is possible. Here we see two examples that are intended to be viewed from the side.

Here is virtuoso Venetian-style glassblowing "without a net." One mistake and all is lost! Where "making a goblet from parts" allows mistakes to be isolated and destroyed, this process moves relentlessly forward, allowing no retakes.

Popular among glass artists today, as it was in the golden age of Greece and the Roman Empire, this technique softens and shapes glass in a kiln. Various preparatory steps are shown in the making of a contemporary sculpture.

It could have been so simple... but it wasn't! Until recent times (about 1800), permanent enamels had to be fired on glass vessels by an amazingly laborious process, shown here. Today, the process really is as easy as it looks.

See what really sets glass apart from metal and then begin to understand why humans have invented such odd ways of shaping it while hot: core-forming, fusing, slumping, and—oddest of all—glassblowing.

Artists have proven that glass as a medium for sculpture is virtually without limits. Among hot-working processes, flameworking allows the greatest detail and the smallest scale. Surprisingly though, it can also be used to create sculpture large enough to fill rooms.

A technique unique to glass, air twist requires very high quality material for success. When sparkling lead crystal became common in 18th-century England, the air twist technique spread rapidly.

By about AD 20, Roman workers had discovered that a bubble of molten glass could be lowered into a mold and then further inflated to fill the mold. In this way, the full-size vessel, complete with elaborate decoration, was made almost instantly.

Hot-working processes used to form a glass object—glassblowing for example—must be followed by a very gradual cooling period called annealing. See what happens when an object is not properly annealed and learn why it breaks.

This video shows the technique of making a kuttrolf, an object in the exhibition Medieval Glass for Popes, Princes, and Peasants, on view at The Corning Museum of Glass from May 15, 2010, to January 2, 2011.

This video shows the technique of making a medieval goblet, an object in the exhibition Medieval Glass for Popes, Princes, and Peasants, on view at The Corning Museum of Glass May 15, 2010, to January 2, 2011.

Some of the first glassblowers working in Italy—perhaps as early as 30 BC—made blanks for craftspeople accustomed to decorating hardstone objects. The glassblowing process required two contrasting glasses, usually blue and white.

Essentially the same as lathe cutting, the engraving lathe is generally used for small-scale projects often involving the creation of extremely fine details, such as the eyelashes on a portrait.

Philadelphia-based artist Christopher Lydon makes organically inspired sculptural and vessel forms as well as works with intense color contrasts that reference street art and anime. At 2300°: Blues in March 2012, he made a glass guitar modeled on BB King's signature guitar, Lucille.

Anne Gant is one of the few glass artists to work on paper. Watch as she uses hot glass to make prints and drawings in a fascinating combination of glassblowing and printing or drawing with glass. First, two glassmakers sculpt hot glass into shapes and lines. While the glass is still scorching hot

Tim Dubitsky at GlassLab at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, May 17-June 3, 2008. A program of The Corning Museum of Glass, GlassLab brings designers together with glassmakers to offer them rare access to experimenting with hot glass and prototyping their design concepts.

Industrial designer Harry Allen came to The Corning Museum of Glass to work on ideas for his line of objects cast from real life. In this session at the Museum, Allen made prototypes of glass waffles cast in new and antique waffle irons.

Tobias Wong at GlassLab at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, May 17-June 3, 2008. A program of The Corning Museum of Glass, GlassLab brings designers together with glassmakers to offer them rare access to experimenting with hot glass and prototyping their design concepts.

Massimo Vignelli at GlassLab at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, May 17-June 3, 2008. A program of The Corning Museum of Glass, GlassLab brings designers together with glassmakers to offer them rare access to experimenting with hot glass and prototyping their design concepts.

The Corning Museum of Glass presents its popular 2300° series of art happenings each year, featuring live music, hot glassmaking, and great food and drink. This Honky Tonk Holiday event (Nov. 17, 2011), included music by Eileen Jewell, glassmaking by DH McNabb, and more.

The Corning Museum of Glass presents its popular 2300° series of art happenings each year, featuring live music, hot glassmaking, and great food and drink. This video gives you an inside look at the festivities at 2300°: Blues (March 15, 2012), including music by Howling Waters featuring drummer

The Corning Museum of Glass presents its popular 2300° series of art happenings each year, featuring live music, hot glassblowing, and great food and drink. This video gives you an inside look at the festivities at Peace, Love, and 2300° (Dec. 15, 2011), including music by Entrain, and glassmaking