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Blown Glass Beads
Sandra Paluzzi
My love of blown glass goes back to my childhood. I grew up near
Corning Glass Works. Every elementary school trip was to Corning
Glass. I would watch with wonder as the glass blowers put their blobs
of glass on the end of the rod and blew it into shape. The glass made
many trips into the 'glory hole' (glass furnace) to keep it hot enough to
shape. Slowly, the glass worker would repeat the process of heating
the glass and blowing on the rod. Tools were used to shape the blown
glass ornament. Two or even three people would take part in the process. I would watch
mesmerized and every year I would leave Corning Glass Works with a
miniature glass animal clutched in my hands. Maybe, my
innate love of watching the process traces back to my Italian roots.
For blown glass beads have traditionally come from Italy. At one
time, telling glass making secrets was a crime punishable by death.
Today, the Italian glass blowers still jealously guard their secrets.
In fact, my nephew is majoring in glass blowing here in the states.
He will be spending a semester in Italy to study art. Note I said art
- he is not allowed to take glass blowing courses in Italy.
Until very recently, blown glass beads were largely made in Italy.
They were hard to get and cost around 5.00 a bead retail. Blown glass
aficionados were happy to pay any price to get them when they became
available.
Of course, everything worth making gets knocked off. And today, blown
glass beads are coming out of China. They cost much less (around 1.00
a bead) and are readily available. While the Chinese blown glass
beads are very pretty, the glass quality is not as high as that of the
Italians.
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