Glass Terms - Vocabulary

When first ask to do this Blog - I was hesitant as there is so much I don't know and I am very busy with school. But I thought perhaps it would or could be a learning tool for me, and also a way for others to learn about Blenko and WV Made Glass. Thus, the journey began, writing three or four times a week - mostly unedited thoughts, or answers to your questions. I am grateful when you write, either to comment on the blog or send an email. WV made Glass is very important to me - most especially Blenko Glass. The manufacturing of Glass in the USA is dying and will continue to die unless we start to demand made in the USA glass. We must begin to seek out local craftsmen, and purchase items made here in WV made by our local people, local manufacturers. Last night I realized I have done little to educate - so today we will have a lesson in vocabulary. While interviewing the older craftsmen they often used these terms and I had 'no clue' what they meant. Lesson # 1 Glass terms - Stipple - Design used in pressed glass consisting of small bumps of glass very close together and may be evenly spaced or random. The stippling was usually a background for main pressed pattern on the glass. STAIN - An inexpensive way to color all or part of a piece of glass. The part of the piece of glass that is to be colored is covered with metallic paint while the glass is cold. Most stains result in a ruby or cranberry color; but some stains may be amber, blue or other colors. Stain is very often mistakenly called flashed or flashing. ANNEALING - the process of slowly cooling glass items after they are made. The process is necessary to stabilize the glass molecules to keep the item from shattering. Annealing in glass factories was done in a lehr. Lehr - A machine in the form of a long 'tunnel' used to cool glass after manufacture. It contained a slow - moving belt made of a stury material such as wire mesh. The glass item was placed in at the hottest end of the lehr as soon as the shaping of the glass was finished. The article then started a trip of perhaps several hours to the other end of the lehr as it was slowly cooled. The end of the lehr that first received the glass item was usually near the furnace. The end where the cooled item was removed was usually near the shipping or decorating area of the factory. NOTE: The vocabulary definitons were taken from 'ALL ABOUT GLASS - a publication of the WV MUSEUM OF GLASS Vol. 2 No.1. (photo of Mr. Bill Blenko (WH BLENKO President of Blenko Glass Company taken 11/26/2006)