Glassblowing

Glassblowing is the process of forming glass into useful shapes while the glass is in a molten, liquified state.

Traditionally, the glass was melted in furnaces from the raw ingredients of sand, limestone, and pot ash. The glass blowing team would collect the glass on metal pipes to blow it and on rods to shape solid parts like handles. During this process the glass object normally never goes below about 1000°F.

Working, usually, on a much smaller scale, a traditional lampworker used alcohol lamps and breath or billows driven air to create a hot flame to work glass in the form of rods, the end of which was melted in the flame.

Modern lampworking is a method of glassblowing that involves using propane-oxygen torches instead of other traditional methods -- also called torch working, the modern torch permits working both the soft glass from the furnace worker and the borosilicate low expansion glass of the scientific glassblower who may have multiple headed torches and special lathes to help form the glass or quartz used for special projects.