All About Glass

All About Glass

This is your resource for exploring various topics in glass: delve deeper with this collection of articles, multimedia, and virtual books all about glass. Content is frequently added to the area, so check back for new items. If you have a topic you'd like to see covered, send us your suggestion. If you have a specific question, Ask a Glass Question at our Rakow Research Library.

Enameled Glass Vessels, 1425 B.C.E.–1800: The Decorating Process
Article

The earliest glass vessel decorated with enameling dates from about 1425 B.C.E. 1 It successfully combines one of humankind’s oldest creative urges (the desire to draw on things) with one of the most advanced technologies of the ancient world (glassmaking). Today, essentially the same process

Learn About Glass Enameling
Video

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.

Lobmeyr's Persian and Arabian Enameled Glass Series
Article

The Viennese company of Joseph and Ludwig Lobmeyr—founded by their father, Joseph Sr. in 1823 and in family hands ever since—became widely recognised for its high-quality glass wares from the mid-19th century. 1 Large ‘crystal’ chandeliers, such as those that were manufactured in 1878 to 1881 for