Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1896-07-14
VENETIAN GLASS.
Al ANcIcEr INDUSTRY REVIVED IN
THE ISLAND or MuRANO.

Are Produced-How the Descendants Of |
the Old Venetian Glassworlzers Make |
Beautiful Articles CT Use and Ornament.
Among the lagoons. nearly due north |
Of Venice, in the island Of Murano
there lives u race of men who seem to
have great future. They are the de-
scendants Of tie cid Venetian glass
workers. aud Of late years they have
been reviving the ancient art, which
made Murano famous in the past, of
glassblowiug.
The old Venetian glass was what is
commonly called blown, but the name
gives very small idea Of the manufac-
ture. Glass has certain characteristics
which give it its true beauty and value
for art purposes, and though you may
neglect these and force it to make forms
utterly foreign to its nature you are
producing not works of art, but mon
strosities. Whatever glass may be, it
is III its natural state not crystalline, SO
that nature is outraged when we grind
| il into sharp angular forms that belong
rather to other materials. The old Vene-
| tian glass was light, bright, vitrecus i'll
appearance and stained with the richest
possible colors, and all these qualities
are retained in the newly revived man.
ufacture at Murano.
There is one more strong point in IA
| vor Of glass blown and worked over
| than molded-nanely, that every intli-
vidual piece is an original art, and as
it is almost impossible that any two
should be exactly alike, unless their
fern is very simple indeed, the buyer
chooses according to his fancy and is
sure that no one else possesses piece
exactly the same size and shape. In the
manufacture of the ordinary cut glass
minimum (red lcad) is frequently add
cd to increase its brightness, but this
DESTROYS at once the characteristic light
ness, and, causing it tOcool more rapid
ly, quite prevents the possibility Of
working it i'll the proper ductile and
mallcablc condition.
The Murano material is worked as
the ancient Venetian glass made Oh the
same island used to bc, and all the old
methods have been discovered, or at
least the same effects have been pro-
duccd. The famma, perhaps more
strange than beautiful, the millefiorc,
the smelze, including perfect limitations
Of agatcs, chalccdons. lapis lazuli, etc.
for mosaic, the aqua marina, rich ruby
colors, the brilliant avventurino, all are
here, and many other kinds Of work,
some Of which are limitations of the old
glass and some new inventions.
The tools used are q hollow reed of
iron, q few instruments like shears, of
different sizes, and stamp with q
strawberry shaped die. The end Of the
rod is dipped into molten glass of, say.
ruby color, and portion accumulated
on its end. If too much or too little is
right size, and if the metal, as it is call.
ed. is not of the right temperature. the
color will be too dark or too light. Tho
lump is rolled Oh a table into symmetry
and heated again. A few turns CT thu
rod and breath or two through it, anG
u hollow ball appears ut the end. One
extra puff Of the breath and the low
would be too large and too thin. A boy
brings up small portion of white glass
which he has picked out Of another res
ervoir and blown hollow. This must b.
so hot as almost to drop off the rod, ant
must be ready at the exact moment. Lii
touches the bowl with it, and the TIVE
adhere like scaling WAX. A pull asun
der and one dextrous twist form TIN
delicate stem Of the wineglass upol
which three little humps Of glass ar
then stuck and stamped as strawberric
and the whole is again introduced int
the furnace, where it would Instant,
droop out of shape but for the deft ma
nipulation which it undergocs.
BY the time it is heated the boy i
ready with another globe of glass. Per
haps If different color, which h
causes to adhere to the bottom of tn
stem. The man spins it around between
his shears, nipping part Of it almost off
and thus gaining the right quantity @
metal for the foot, no less and no moro
One tap on an iron ledge breaks the su
pcrfluous piece, and leaves a small hol
n at the point Of the fracture. Once NOR
the action Of the fire is called in to soft
v en- the brittle material, and when til
pear shaped ends come out the points c
the closed shears are introduced t
widen the opening into a cuplike form
A small lump Of avvcnturino is b
this time ON the end Of the boys rod
melted and only saved from droppin
by his dexterity. One touch and it nd
heres to the end Of the cup just formed
en- He puts il out and winds it around. nc
re herring rs it goes to the edge. Again til
Sc fire does its duty, and then the arti.
Ct finishes the form Of the foot, detachin
ie. Immediately the bulb ut the top froi
ID. his hollow rod. Another rod, with
molten piece Of glass, is prepared ft
him by the boys ready cooperation
isi and is pressed against the center Of I'll
foot, to which it adheres. Into the fiji
goes the whole piece. and when will
drawn the bowl Of the glass is partl
9, shaped by the shears, avventurino woun
around the edge as before with the foo
A last heat, and with artistic care ii
delicate. crocuslike bowl, which is SON
= day to contain the sparkling wine,
completed -London Globe.