{"id":11023,"date":"2023-11-18T17:14:39","date_gmt":"2023-11-18T16:14:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.energiedescouleurs.com\/2023\/11\/18\/blown-glass-a-living-substance\/"},"modified":"2023-11-18T17:14:42","modified_gmt":"2023-11-18T16:14:42","slug":"blown-glass-a-living-substance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.energiedescouleurs.com\/en\/2023\/11\/18\/blown-glass-a-living-substance\/","title":{"rendered":"Blown Glass: a living substance"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1649180977418{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 60px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”the heart and soul of blown glass” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:40px|text_align:center|line_height:1.4em” text_resize=”yes” text_minimum=”34″ use_theme_fonts=”yes” hide_md=”cesis_hidden-md” hide_sm=”cesis_hidden-sm”][vc_column_text]Blown glass is a vibrant material that brings the past to life and offers new emotions for contemporary design and architecture.<\/p>\n

He plays with light and transparency, colour and texture, movement and space. It vibrates all the more because the hand of man has given it its imperfections. These imperfections keep it alive throughout the course of the sun.<\/p>\n

It’s a material that has stood the test of time, combining tradition, expertise, innovation and modernity to delight the eye and the soul.[\/vc_column_text][cesis_line_divider height=”6″ width=”102″ color=”#07ff99″ margin_bottom=”73″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Ancient Glass Making” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]Glass has been used since prehistoric times. Natural materials such as obsidian were used. (volcanic vitreous rock<\/span><\/span>) are cut by man to form arrowheads; tectites (of meteorite origin) are also used as jewellery; and finally, fulgurites are small tubes formed by the fusion of sand struck by lightning.[\/vc_column_text][cesis_gallery images=”10377,10382,10380″ img_size=”medium” col=”3″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text]It wasn’t until about 2500 B.C. in the Middle East that man invented the material of glass. Craftsmen used glass paste to produce utilitarian objects containing precious, perfumed oils. These were small polychrome objects made of opaque glass. They were produced in small quantities. In this case, the technique used is that of the moulding of the glass on a core, known as the “l’core coating<\/a> “, Also known as “alabastron”: a vitreous material deposited in a core of clay and sand, the shape of which it takes; after drying, the core shrinks and can be easily removed.<\/p>\n

Later, the technique evolved and the glass mass was then poured on a table, i.e. poured and spread on a wooden table or a bed of sand.<\/p>\n

The technique of blowing glass with a stick to make vases and other containers dates back to the first century BC in the Middle East under the Roman Empire. This is a real technological revolution. It means that glass objects can be produced in larger sizes, faster and in larger quantities. The stretching properties of the vitreous mass were exploited by eastern craftsmen, probably Syrians. The spread of this technique followed the expansion of the Roman Empire around the Mediterranean, spreading to Italy, Gaul and Spain before reaching the whole of Europe.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_empty_space height=”50px”][vc_column_text]Paintings in the Beni Hassan Hypogeums show Theban craftsmen blowing glass with a cane in front of a fireplace, as we still do today.[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”10364″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Le Verre \u00e0 Vitre – Glass” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]Glass was first used for glazing buildings (5 to 6 mm thick flat glass for glazing windows, <\/span><\/span>date back to Roman times in the 1st century AD. Remains have been found at the site of Pompeii. However, the use of flat glass remained extremely limited, even in the Middle Ages. In the past, thin sheets of mica or alabaster were the material of choice.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Window glass was known to the Romans. However, it was not widely used in civil architecture.<\/span> until the 15th century. We use rudimentary means to protect ourselves from the wind and bad weather: <\/span>Wooden shutters, waxed canvas, oiled skins or paper<\/span>, all of which were best protected by wire netting.<\/span> <\/span><\/span>During the Middle Ages,<\/span> there was a long period of stagnation in the use of window glass in houses, where the windows,<\/span> which were shrinking in size, were barely glazed at all.<\/span><\/span> At the beginning of the 14th century, the first glassworks were in B\u00e9zu-la-For\u00eat in the Eure department<\/span> and Philippe Cacqueray was the inventor of flat sheets of glass.<\/span><\/span> In 1698 at the Ch\u00e2teau de Saint-Gobain, Lucas de Nehou perfected the process of casting mirrors.<\/span><\/span>.<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_custom_heading text=”The manufacture of flat glass” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]Flat glass, or window glass, was made between the 5th and 10th centuries<\/span><\/span> using two contemporary glass-blowing techniques:<\/p>\n