How was glass made in ancient times?
Core-formed glass
The earliest glass vessels were made by forming a core of sand, mud, or clay around a metal rod (hence the alternate term “rod-formed” glass). The core was dipped in or covered with strands of molten glass. Handles and bases could then be attached and the core removed.
Core-Formed Glass Video by the Getty Museum
Blown
A mass (“gob”) of molten glass is attached to a hollow tube and then inflated by blowing through the tube. The object can then be transferred to a solid metal rod to be further decorated and shaped. Th technique probably arose in Syria-Palestine.
Ancient Glassmaking Video by the Art Institute of Chicago.
Mold-Blown
Molten glass is blown into a mold to form a vessel and its decoration simultaneously.
Mold-Blown Glass Video by the Getty Museum
Millefiori (mosaic)
Varicolored rods (“canes”) of glass are fused together and sliced. The slices are arranged in a mold and heated to form a vessel.
Mosaic Glass Video by the Getty Museum
Splash-decorated
Small fragments of multicolored glass are sprinkled onto a partially blown vessel and stretched out by further inflating the vessel.
Threaded
Streams of molten glass are wound or trailed over the body of a hot vessel.
Tooled
Hot glass is shaped with tools.
Other interesting videos
Ennion and His Legacy:
Mold-Blown Glass from Ancient Rome –
Corning Museum of Glass Lecture
Engaging Roman Glass by Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East
Conservation of a Roman Glass Bottle by Toledo Museum of Art
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