Posted on 03/24/2021 at 7:09 p.m.
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The art of glass was born with fire, of course.
One of the most important devices in the workshop is therefore the melting furnace.
A beautiful baby of respectable size, capable of containing and melting 90 kilos of glass… which it takes a week of heating to reach the desired 1,140º, and as much to cool!
The melting furnace lit for three months
It is not, there, to turn the knob on the stove! ” This is why we turn it on and keep it heated for three months. In other words, behind, in production, you have to follow: this is why the work is organized and planned, in order to waste neither time nor raw material.
The second major element is the heating oven, says Glory Hall. On in the morning, off in the evening, it rises to 1300º in 30 minutes. It is used to maintain the molten glass being shaped at temperature.
The third and last important element is the annealing furnace. Do not laugh, but it is used to cool the finished parts, to the temperature of 510º. Otherwise, they break.
The energy used for the ovens is gas. Anne and Vincent had a cistern installed to store it. Consumption is important.
The raw material for glass is of course sand and soda. To color the glass, Anne and Vincent use metallic oxide powders, added to the transparent hot glass during shaping.
The incandescent glass is blown with a cane, in the purest tradition of glassmakers.
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