How To Make Lampwork Glass Beads
How To Make Lampwork Glass Beads
What is Lampwork Glass:
Lampwork is a type of glasswork used to create smaller glass objects using a fixed directional flame to melt the glass, whilst using lampworking tools and gravity to shape the piece. It is a very different process from glass blowing, which as the name suggests, uses a blowpipe to inflate a glass gob or gather to form a cylindrical glass shape which can then be shaped with glass blowing tools. These small handcrafted lampwork pieces are the most time consuming method of making glass beads as each art bead is individually made over a flame, resulting in labour intensive but beautiful one of a kind lampwork glass beads.
A Brief History of Lampwork Glass Bead Making:
Lampworking is the result of a combination of chance – that first piece of natural glass falling by accident into an open fire – alongside a long history of innovation, development and refinement. It is impossible to determine when lampworking as a process was born but many of the elements that make lampworking what it is today can be traced back through the centuries to when mankind first discovered how to make glass.
Through archaeological excavations and examination of early glass artefacts it is known that small open fires were used for all forms of early glass making. In time small earth formed beehive furnaces were introduced. These primitive furnaces are known to have been used in ancient civilizations from Japan to North Africa, and probably dominated glassmaking prior to the birth of Christ. The Romans took this basic beehive shaped furnace and refined it with the addition of exhaust vents and side access, creating what would effectively become the first glass furnace. Alongside this they developed and refined glass working tools for shaping the glass that they produced. Glassmaking became a sophisticated and highly successful industry, with 600 years spent refining their techniques until they were adept at shaping glass, colouring glass, recycling glass and even removing colour from glass until it was almost clear.
The next significant phase in glassmaking followed the sacking of Rome in the 5th Century and the rise of Islam and the exquisite artistry that this culture embodied. It is in the 10th Century, specifically 982AD, that the first recorded reference is found to Venetian glassmaking. In the 13th Century Byzantium was captured by the Franks and the Venetians, with Islamic glass making techniques quickly adopted within Venice’s established glass making industry. The epicentre for glass making now moved to Europe. As Venice’s glass making industry grew from strength to strength it benefited from the Republics status as a major trade centre for Europe, Asia and North Africa. Keen to keep their competitive edge the Venetian authorities introduced protectionist measures banning the import of foreign glass, whilst ensuring Venetian glassmakers were discouraged from disclosing their techniques by moving their foundries to the isolated Island of Murano in the Venetian Lagoon. To read more about this particular region and its intriguing history look at our History of Venetian Glass Making.
Times have now changed, and tourists are encouraged to visit the original glass furnaces and workshops on Murano to see how the workers create glassworks using methods unchanged for hundreds of years.
Following the continuing dominance of Venice in glass manufacturing and the pivotal moment Angelo Barovier invented cristallo clear glass in 1450, we jump to the early 17th century to find French, Germany and Italian glassworkers using the flame of an oil lamp or spirit lamp to heat and manipulate small quantities of glass. The glass workers would raise the temperature of the flame tip by blowing air into it through a narrow pipe or tube. This would generate sufficient heat to melt the softer types of lampwork glass rods available to them. So this is where the lamp in lampwork originated from, providing the first significant parallel between historical glass manufacturing and modern lampworking.
Working in a hot environment this lampworking technique proved less than ideal as workers were unable to blow into the pipe or tubing consistently for any length of time without experiencing dizziness, or passing out through lack of oxygen! The first much needed refinement to this process was a hand blower, or hand bellows, as illustrated in the plate below. Although this was a significant improvement it had two drawbacks – it required one hand to operate the bellows and it lacked a mechanism to ensure a consistent flow of air to the flame.
History of Lampwork Glass Beads Making - Lampwork Workstation
This plate depicts an early hand pumped lampworking device entitled Fletcher’s Leather Hand Blower and Lamp (Source – Traditional Glassworking Techniques by Paul N Hasluck)
The next development introduced a foot operated bellows which freed up the workers hands so that they could again be focused on shaping the glass, but it still lacked a mechanism to drive a consistent flow of air through to the flame, without which a uniform temperature could not be focused on the heated glass.
History of Lampwork Glass Beads - Lampwork Bellows
This plate shows a foot bellow operated lampworking bench (Source – Traditional Glassworking Techniques by Paul N Hasluck)
The final refinement needed was an expandable bladder attached to the foot bellows which meant air could be stored prior to being pushed through to the flame, giving a more consistent flow of air. This would give the lampworker the ability to selectively heat areas of the glass object being worked on, bringing greater refinement and accuracy to the process. With the bladder system in place this lampworking process proved more economical and energy efficient, whilst allowing for greater intricacy and detail than could ever be achieved by glassblowing. It essentially brought down prices for glass objects and placed them within the reach of a wider audience.
It is worth noting, in the plate below, that the lamp working industry employed both men and women and that this was particularly evident in Venice at the peak of production in the1800s. Women would be employed to add the decorative elements to Venetian glass trade beads destined for Africa and the Americas. The bead cores were still produced in an industrial, male dominated environment centred around large hot glass furnaces, but the glass decoration and detail would be added later. This task was undertaken by home workers paid on a piecemeal basis using an oil or spirit lamp to re-heat the beads whilst adding strings or dots of coloured glass.
History of Lampwork Beads - Workstation
This plate depicts a group of male and female 17th century lampworkers at their foot bellow operated workstations. Complete with bladder system, a heat draw or extractor above the table and a detail showing the lidded flame housing which plugged into an air outlet in the table. It also shows the tongs used to shape the beads (Source – The Corning Museum of Glass)
Following the fall of the Venetian Republic to the Austrians in 1797, Venetian glass production went in to sharp decline. With Austrian backing the region of Bohemia started its rise as the new centre for glass making in Europe, a subject which is covered in greater detail in our History of Czech Glass Beads. That is until the mid 19th Century when Venice regained it’s independence and a new breed of glass maker reinvigorated Venetian glass production. They took their inspiration from Murano’s golden period and by rediscovering long forgotten glass making techniques they brought new life to the furnaces of Murano. This takes us to the turn of the 20th Century when events take us across the Atlantic to America, albeit via Germany.
What is Lampwork Glass:
Lampwork is a type of glasswork used to create smaller glass objects using a fixed directional flame to melt the glass, whilst using lampworking tools and gravity to shape the piece. It is a very different process from glass blowing, which as the name suggests, uses a blowpipe to inflate a glass gob or gather to form a cylindrical glass shape which can then be shaped with glass blowing tools. These small handcrafted lampwork pieces are the most time consuming method of making glass beads as each art bead is individually made over a flame, resulting in labour intensive but beautiful one of a kind lampwork glass beads.
A Brief History of Lampwork Glass Bead Making:
Lampworking is the result of a combination of chance – that first piece of natural glass falling by accident into an open fire – alongside a long history of innovation, development and refinement. It is impossible to determine when lampworking as a process was born but many of the elements that make lampworking what it is today can be traced back through the centuries to when mankind first discovered how to make glass.
Through archaeological excavations and examination of early glass artefacts it is known that small open fires were used for all forms of early glass making. In time small earth formed beehive furnaces were introduced. These primitive furnaces are known to have been used in ancient civilizations from Japan to North Africa, and probably dominated glassmaking prior to the birth of Christ. The Romans took this basic beehive shaped furnace and refined it with the addition of exhaust vents and side access, creating what would effectively become the first glass furnace. Alongside this they developed and refined glass working tools for shaping the glass that they produced. Glassmaking became a sophisticated and highly successful industry, with 600 years spent refining their techniques until they were adept at shaping glass, colouring glass, recycling glass and even removing colour from glass until it was almost clear.
The next significant phase in glassmaking followed the sacking of Rome in the 5th Century and the rise of Islam and the exquisite artistry that this culture embodied. It is in the 10th Century, specifically 982AD, that the first recorded reference is found to Venetian glassmaking. In the 13th Century Byzantium was captured by the Franks and the Venetians, with Islamic glass making techniques quickly adopted within Venice’s established glass making industry. The epicentre for glass making now moved to Europe. As Venice’s glass making industry grew from strength to strength it benefited from the Republics status as a major trade centre for Europe, Asia and North Africa. Keen to keep their competitive edge the Venetian authorities introduced protectionist measures banning the import of foreign glass, whilst ensuring Venetian glassmakers were discouraged from disclosing their techniques by moving their foundries to the isolated Island of Murano in the Venetian Lagoon. To read more about this particular region and its intriguing history look at our History of Venetian Glass Making.
Times have now changed, and tourists are encouraged to visit the original glass furnaces and workshops on Murano to see how the workers create glassworks using methods unchanged for hundreds of years.
Following the continuing dominance of Venice in glass manufacturing and the pivotal moment Angelo Barovier invented cristallo clear glass in 1450, we jump to the early 17th century to find French, Germany and Italian glassworkers using the flame of an oil lamp or spirit lamp to heat and manipulate small quantities of glass. The glass workers would raise the temperature of the flame tip by blowing air into it through a narrow pipe or tube. This would generate sufficient heat to melt the softer types of lampwork glass rods available to them. So this is where the lamp in lampwork originated from, providing the first significant parallel between historical glass manufacturing and modern lampworking.
Working in a hot environment this lampworking technique proved less than ideal as workers were unable to blow into the pipe or tubing consistently for any length of time without experiencing dizziness, or passing out through lack of oxygen! The first much needed refinement to this process was a hand blower, or hand bellows, as illustrated in the plate below. Although this was a significant improvement it had two drawbacks – it required one hand to operate the bellows and it lacked a mechanism to ensure a consistent flow of air to the flame.
History of Lampwork Glass Beads Making - Lampwork Workstation
This plate depicts an early hand pumped lampworking device entitled Fletcher’s Leather Hand Blower and Lamp (Source – Traditional Glassworking Techniques by Paul N Hasluck)
The next development introduced a foot operated bellows which freed up the workers hands so that they could again be focused on shaping the glass, but it still lacked a mechanism to drive a consistent flow of air through to the flame, without which a uniform temperature could not be focused on the heated glass.
History of Lampwork Glass Beads - Lampwork Bellows
This plate shows a foot bellow operated lampworking bench (Source – Traditional Glassworking Techniques by Paul N Hasluck)
The final refinement needed was an expandable bladder attached to the foot bellows which meant air could be stored prior to being pushed through to the flame, giving a more consistent flow of air. This would give the lampworker the ability to selectively heat areas of the glass object being worked on, bringing greater refinement and accuracy to the process. With the bladder system in place this lampworking process proved more economical and energy efficient, whilst allowing for greater intricacy and detail than could ever be achieved by glassblowing. It essentially brought down prices for glass objects and placed them within the reach of a wider audience.
It is worth noting, in the plate below, that the lamp working industry employed both men and women and that this was particularly evident in Venice at the peak of production in the1800s. Women would be employed to add the decorative elements to Venetian glass trade beads destined for Africa and the Americas. The bead cores were still produced in an industrial, male dominated environment centred around large hot glass furnaces, but the glass decoration and detail would be added later. This task was undertaken by home workers paid on a piecemeal basis using an oil or spirit lamp to re-heat the beads whilst adding strings or dots of coloured glass.
History of Lampwork Beads - Workstation
This plate depicts a group of male and female 17th century lampworkers at their foot bellow operated workstations. Complete with bladder system, a heat draw or extractor above the table and a detail showing the lidded flame housing which plugged into an air outlet in the table. It also shows the tongs used to shape the beads (Source – The Corning Museum of Glass)
Following the fall of the Venetian Republic to the Austrians in 1797, Venetian glass production went in to sharp decline. With Austrian backing the region of Bohemia started its rise as the new centre for glass making in Europe, a subject which is covered in greater detail in our History of Czech Glass Beads. That is until the mid 19th Century when Venice regained it’s independence and a new breed of glass maker reinvigorated Venetian glass production. They took their inspiration from Murano’s golden period and by rediscovering long forgotten glass making techniques they brought new life to the furnaces of Murano. This takes us to the turn of the 20th Century when events take us across the Atlantic to America, albeit via Germany.