Molten glass is such a beautiful material and even more so when you have the unique opportunity to form it yourself. All our Cristalino lamps are hand made by skilled artisans here in Mexico.
Did you know the composition of glass is made form predominately sand ? Technically you can make glass from 100 % sand however this would take vasts amounts of energy and the consistency of the material would not resemble the beautifully transparent material we have come to know. Instead metals, minerals, fluxes and well and colorants are added to make the material transparent, structurally stronge and easier to melt (it still melts at around 1200 - 1400 degrees Celsius).
Despite what you may think, glass is not classified as a solid… or a liquid or a gas. When cooled, glass forms an “amorphous solid” that allows molecules within the glass to continue moving around. You may hear some people refer to it as a super cooled liquid.
Glass is 100 % recyclable although mixing different recipes of glass may be unproductive as the different glass may not be compatible with each other resulting in cracking. Instead what is common is to crush used glass back into a mineral form and introduce it into construction material such as asphalt and concrete. Glass will eventually break down unto a mineral form to be incorporated back into the earth.
When blowing glass the glass maker skillfully gathers a gob of hand molten glass onto the end of the glass pipe, He must work the material using a combination of tools that haven´t changed much in 500 years. He uses a combination of skills to form the glass, however he must work fast he has less than 60 seconds before he must reheat the glass. When reheating the glass the tempertaure of the material is still around 800 degrees celsius.
Did you know the first documented example of a hand blown container is dated at over 1500 BC thats 3500 years old ! Actually the Roman continued the development of the process of glassblowing in the 1st century. After the collapse of the Roman empire the knowledge of hand blown glass quickly spread throughout Europe and the middel East.
Today glassblowing is taught throughout the world in schools, universities and private glass studios called ¨Hotshops¨
Although it may take a relatively short time to make a glass vessel the glass must be cooled or temperred usually overnight this is to avois inherent stress created in the process that may crack the piece if cooled too quickly.
In our Cristalino range of hand blown glass lamps we use 8 colours plus transparent glass. Athough it´s possible to melt our own colours we buy the colours in a concentrated form, heat them individually and apply an exact amount of colout to the blowpipe before adding more clear glass to the piece. Colour can be added to glass in may way and techniques the options and combinations are virtually endless.
The Cristalino range of hand made lamps will be onsale in Mexico for the Buen Fin sale form November 10 - 16 of November 2021