The art behind blown glass

Perhaps you have never wondered about it, but do you know how glass sculptures and vases are made? The answer is in the art of blown glass. This technique involves molding the material with heat and, as the name suggests, blowing.

Glass Blowing is one of the most famous glass craft techniques, which consists of creating air bubbles in the mass of molten glass with the help of a metal tube or straw. Once the bubble is created, the glazier proceeds to mold the glass to shape it according to the desired product.

The creation of blown glass figures consists of several phases to obtain the final product:

1st stage: The glass is melted in ovens at ultra-high temperatures to obtain a thick and moldable mass.

2nd stage: The mass is collected with a metal tube and the artisan starts blowing on it to inflate it. It's worth mentioning that, with the evolution and the passing of the years, many blown glass factories have machinery that is responsible for carrying out these processes in an automated manner. We work with factories that still do it in the traditional way, reason why no piece is equal to the other. 

3rd stage: After obtaining the bubble, the dough begins to be shaped to the desired form, with the help of different types of tweezers and scissors.

Finally, the blown glass figure is put back in the oven for 8 hours to finish cooking the dough and obtain the final result.

Although it reads like something simple, this process really takes a long time to execute, involves many people and requires a lot of skill. 

The earliest art of this kind was discovered around 3,000 BC and the technique of glass-blowing around the year 100 BC. It was introduced to Mexico in 1535 by Spanish artisans from Europe.

The technique of manufacturing glass has evolved since the sixteenth century, and there are certain areas in Mexico that still follow the age-old glassblowing technique to create rustic, hand-blown crafts, from glasses, vases plates and decoration items to amazing pieces of art.

If you’re interested in this technique and want to include it in your gifting, send us an email at merakiobjects@eclecticarray.com and let’s find the perfect option for your events.