Glossary of glass art terms

A glossary of terms used in Glass art

• Cane, rods of glass with color, either single or multiple (see also twistie)

• Cast,^[1] Glass formed by pouring hot glass into a mold (sand casting) or kiln-casting using the cire perdue (lost wax) method. Any use of hot glass where the metal is poured out or off of a tool without being cut or broken.

• Cullet, broken or waste glass suitable for remelting

• Frit, crushed glass often melted onto other glass to produce patterns and color

• Incalmo, the grafting or joining together, while still hot, of two separately blown glass [bubbles] to produce a single [bubble].^[2]
• Lampwork, alternate name Flamework^[1], the technique of forming glass using a hand held heat source, formerly lamps, more usually today a gas blow torch, to shape glass rods and manipulate them with tongs, forceps, knives and other small tools.

• Latticino, Italian decorative glassblowing technique. Latticino refers to any glass piece created using colored glass canes.

• Lehr, a specialized, temperature-controlled kiln for annealing glass.^[3]

• Liuli, ancient Chinese glass art

• Mandrel, metal rod used to construct a glass bead around. When cooled and removed, the space occupied by the mandrel creaes the hole through the bead.

• Marver, a tool used in glassblowing A marver is a large flat table. The glass piece is rolled across is surface. It is used to not only shape the glass, but to remove heat as well. The rapid absorption of heat by the marver creates a stronger skin (surface tension) than the use of a wooden tool. Marver is derived from the word "marble." Marble was originally used in the construction of this specialized table. Modern marvers are made of steel, typically stainless steel.

• Millefiori, ^[1] an Italian term (a thousand flowers) describing glass decorated with slices of colored canes embedded in clear molten glass, which produces distinctive decorative patterns on glassware, often flower-like designs.

• Murrine, Italian term for patterns or images made in a glass cane (long rods of glass) that are revealed when cut in cross-sections

• Pate de verre^[1], a paste of ground or crushed glass, and the technique of casting this material into a mold; also applied to a more general range of cast-glass objects.

• Prunt, a small blob of glass fused to a piece of glass, often impressed with a pattern or stamp

• Reticello, Italian decorative glassblowing technique. This involves the merging of two latticino bubbles in which he straight canes were twisted in opposite directions. Once merged, the opposingly twisted canes cross each other creating a net like pattern. If done the traditional way, small air bubbles will be trapped in a grid pattern between the crossing canes.

• Rod, a rod of glass used as a raw material in forming and fusing glass

• Twistie, a cane formed out of different coloured glass twisted together - also known as zanfirico cane

• Zanfirico, Italian decorative glassblowing technique involving intricate patterns of colored glass canes arranged and twisted to comprise a pattern within a new single glass cane. These new patterned canes are then used to create a glass work.

References