Glass for Art

For normal person we see glass as a functional item. Meaning use them for our own benefit like mugs, paperweights, bottles, containers, table, mirrors, windows, television, computer monitors, eyewears, and many other things we use that has glass in it. But did you know we also use glass for art and decoration.

 

 

It can be in the form of two-dimensional like stained glasses used for windows or just a piece of art put in a canvass to portray the artist's expression. And it can be in the form of a three-dimensional arts like sculptures use for environment art or accents pieces use in interior locations or it could just be a decoration in any location in our rooms or area.

 

The use of glass for art could be new to most of us and of it as modern or contemporary kind of art but actually it has a rich history coming from different countries. Countries like Egypt, Rome, Europe, United States of America, Japan, Italy, China, United Kingdom, Australia, Mexico, Netherlands, Belgium and many more have contributed for the refinement, inventions, development, and dissemination of this kind of art. This kind of an art did not just popped out of nowhere but were mastered over hundreds of years with a lot of trial and error, blood and sweat, and dedication.

 

Nowdays there are many ways how we can create and use stained glass for art projects. The most famous and widely known is known as blown glass or glass blowing wherein an artist or glassblower gets molten glass from a furnace using a metal rod and other tools needed for the procedure and started to shape it by blowing into it. This has become famous to artist because this procedure is very hands on and they could create any shape according to the expression they wanted to show.

 

The Roman Empire are the ones who started glass blowing and it is in Italy where the techniques refined, developed and mastered and they even created a lot of techniques with regards to glass blowing and some of them are incalmo, reticello, zanfirico, latticino. You could easily distinguish glass arts that are made from glass blowing by noticing hollow spaces in them especially in large ones.

 

Other methods of creating and use glass for arts like flame-worked glass in which is made from torch or kiln and used metal rods, glass tubes and other glass hand tools to create the shape they wanted. With this technique there is a limit in the size to be worked on but some artist prefer this because they can work on them with more details.

 

There is also the cast glass wherein like glass blowing it is also created in a furnace or with a torch or kiln as well but they are molded to get the shape they wanted. There is also a process called slumped glass and fuse glass. They are more like a cast glass but not in a high temperature but they are used more to engrave a shape or texture or whatever wanted to be seen on the glass itself. There are also processes called the etched glass and sandblasting.

 

But the most notable art glass process of them all is the stained glass because it is use both as an art and a functional glass. The output of it can be seen usually on church windows. They are done by cutting glasses into several sizes and shapes and putting them together and sometimes even incorporating other processes into the art to make it more unique and interesting.