Palace glass

The practice of creating carved decorative glass pieces has been around since the fifteenth century. Carved glass entails making carvings on the glass pieces. These type of decorative glass pieces can be seen in wine bottle s and glasses, serving platters, drinking glasses, and even on doors and windows. Most carved glass work is handmade. It is an intricate art form that requires a great deal of manual dexterity, patience, and creativity. You can include marvelous pieces like this in your building – find out how from Palace of Glass.

The earliest forms of glass carving utilized diamond points to create pieces of decorative glass.Many of these were used to decorate dining and drawing room areas, and were only affordable to the affluent. When copper-wheel engraving arrived in 1725, which involved the use of a copper disk to cut glass, mass production of decorative glass pieces occurred. In the late 1800s, the use of acids became more prevalent which made the resulting decorative glass pieces more exquisite and fine.

Modern glass etching techniques evolved in the late nineteenth century. These involved techniques such as using sand blasting, mould blowing, and mixing various metals such as copper and iron to create visually striking decorative glass pieces. Traditional techniques involved cast the glass and then carving it. Modern methods integrate both, which results in an elegant finish such as the Modern Antiquities collection by Tim Shaw. The glass casts contain the design, so that when the glass is cast, the design gets transferred.

Carved glass gained fame amongst the affluent and enormously wealthy in Europe, particular during the Victorian period. Many wealthy homeowners adorned their homes with decorative glass pieces such as those created by Tiffany and Lalique. The Saint-Louise Cristallerie etched glass-vase is a fine example of carved glass. In modern times, carved decorative glass pieces are manufactured on a large scale basis and have therefore depreciated in value. However, many modern glass artists continue to push the boundaries of glass artistry by employing the latest glass blowing and carving techniques to create unique masterpieces which are also valuable collector’s items.