The glass used for the Murano chandeliers, the Venetian glass, is
sodic, as in the ancient Mediterranean tradition. This means that the
silica, which is a sand destined to become glass through fusion, is
added to the soda ash is added in order to allow the fusion at lower
temperatures. The potash, alternative to soda, typical of the Nordic
countries, creates a brilliant glass suitable for grinding and
incision (such as the english lead glass), but not to the complex,
typically venetian, workings Mixing of raw materials takes place in
the evening, at the end of working hours, and preparation of material
lasts throughout the night: to the two basic raw materials are added
the stabilizer (such as calcium carbonate), the bleachings or
colorings, and, if necessary, the opacifiers. The reverberation
chamber melts the raw materials at a temperature of about 1400
degrees and glassmakers in the morning find the the molten material,
ready for modeling. The molten glass is flexible up to a temperature
of 500 degrees.
The working group is the "square", made up of serving
and boys, which is coordinated by Master. The work can be also
cold-finished by expert grinders performing sanding or other
finishes; the incision is made in figurative independent
laboratories, where highly skilled decorators works. If the forseen
decoration is the enamel, the object moves in a laboratory in which
are made the painting and the annealing of the enamel.
Blown glass
The invention of glass-blowing is dated in the first century BC on
the eastern coast of the Mediterranean and remains the most important
event of the whole history of glassmaking. Especially in Venice, the
glass-blowing was the preferred technique for high level glass works.
The Murano masters have developed, from the Middle Ages, an
extraordinary skill in hot modeling, inventing new techniques and
coming to propose shapes of major elegance and refinement.
