subject: Glass Vocabulary: glassmaking techniques and other vocabulary A to Z – Part 1 [print this page] Glass Vocabulary: glassmaking techniques and other vocabulary A to Z Part 1
Air bubbles: these appear particularly on early soda glass vessels and stained glass windows. But today they are sometimes used for decorative purposes.
Abrasion: using wheels to cut shallow decorative areas in glass. Process of using hard particles and stones to cut or mat the surface of glass, or to shape glass objects.
Annealing: process of slowly cooling a completed object in a separate part of the glass furnace or in a separate furnace.
Applied decoration: A form of relief ornamentation, by adding to the vessel's surface glass threads, trails, blobs, prunts, and other motifs.
Art glass: a term used very loosely to describe much of the ornamental glass produced in the latter part of the 19th century.
Baluster: Early English drinking glass, which rests on a stem of baluster (slender above, swelling below) or inverted baluster form, often with knops. Balustroids are lighter and taller.
Batch: Mixture of prepared and measured glassmaking ingredients, used for melting.
Battuto: (Italian: beating) A style of wheel-cutting, in which the surface is cut to produce innumerable small irregular markings running in the same direction.
Blank: A plain-surfeced object, before subsequent adornment.
Bloom: The dulling of the glass surface when it is affected by smoke or fume.
Blowing: The process of introducing air into glass to form hollow ware.
Blowpipe (or blow iron): The length of thin tubing made of hollow iron used by a lampworker for working glass. The thick end is used to gather a blob of molten glass. The other end is used for blowing.
Borosilicate: This type of glass has heat- and shock-resistant properties. It was developed by Schott in Germany and Corning in the USA in the 20th century.
Bottle glass: unrefined glass, naturally dark green or brown, used for 17th century English bottles and early Nailsea domestic wares.
Cameo glass: Glass layered or cased, and the outer layer then removed in part, for designs in relief against a background of contrasting color.
Carrot: Rods of glass, mostly containing twists of various kinds, for forming the stems of goblets.
Casing/cased: Glass made up of different colored layers. These are used for cameo decoration.
Cast: Work which has been produced by forming the glass in a mold.
Cold painting: painting on glass with lacquer or oil based pigments, with no subsequent firing.
Combed decoration: glass threads applied to an object's surface, pulled with a pointed tool to form wavy, zig-zag and other patterns, and marvered flat. This method was used in ancient Egyptian glass.
Cristallo: Venetian soda glass, colorless.
Crizzling: Degeneration of glass, usually due to inaccurate mixing of ingredients. Also called diseased' glass.
Crystal: general term for high quality clear glass. They contain a minimum amount of lead oxide.
Cullet: Broken pieces of glass added to the batch; they melt readily, saving fuel and material costs.
