The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1896-07-04
VENETIAN GLASS.
AN ANCIENT INDUSTRY REVIVED IN
THE ISLAND OF MURANO.

Beautiful Articles of Use and Ornament.
Among the lagoons, nearly due north
Of Venice, in the island of Murano
shere lives race of men who seem to
have great future. They are the de-
scendants of the old Vonet.a glass
workers, and Of late years they have
boon reviving the ancient art, which
made Murano famous in the past, of
glassblowing.
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 ave
producing not works of art, but mon
strositics. Whatever glass may be, it
is i'll its natural state not crystalline, so
that nature is outraged when we grind
it into sharp angular forms that belong
rather to other materials. The old Vcnc-
tian glass was light, bright, vitrCous III
appearance and stained with the richest
possible colors, and all these qualities
are retained III the newly revived man
ufacturo at Murano.
There il one moro strong point i'll IA
vOr Of glass blown and worked over
than moldcd-n&mcly, that every indi-
vidual piece is an original art, aud as
it is almost impossible that any two
should be exactly alike, unless their
form is very simple indeed, the buyer
chooses according to his fancy and is
sure that no one else possesses Il piece
exactly the same size and shape. In the
manufacture OF the ordinary cut glass
ed to increase its brightness, but this
destroys at once the characteristic light
ness, and, causing it to cool moro rapid
ly, quite prevents the possibility of
working it i'll the proper ductile and
malleablc condition.
The Murano material is worked as
the ancient Venetian glass made on the
same island used to be, and al the old
methods have been discovered, on at
least the same effects have been pro
duccd. The famma, perhaps more
strange than beautiful, the millcfiorc,
the smelze, including perfect limitations
of agates, chalccdons, lapis lazuIi, etc. +,
for mosaic, the aqua marina, rich ruby
COlOrS, the brilliant avvcnturino, 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 hollow reed of
iron, Il few instruments like shears, Of
different sizes, and stamp with Il
strawberry shaped die. The end Of the
rod is dipped into molten glass Of say
ruby color, and Il portion accumulated
on its end. If too much or too little is
taken, the wineglass will not be of the
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. The
lump is rolled on IL table into symmetry
and heated again. A few turns of the
rod and breath or two through it, and
IL hollow ball appears at the end. One
extra puff of the breath and the bowl
would be too large and too thin. A boy
brings up Il small portion of white glass
which he has picked out of another res
ervoir and blown hollow. This must be
so hot as almost to drop off the rod, and
must be ready at the exact moment. He
touches the bowl with it, and the two
adhere like sealing wax. A pull asun-
der and one deXtrous twist form the
delicate stem of the wincglass upon
which three little Jumps of glass are
then stuck and stamped as Strawberries
and the whole is again introduced into
the furnace, where it would instantly
droop out OF shape but for the deft ma
nipulation which it undcrgoes.
BY the time it is heated the boy is
ready with another globe Of glass, per-
haps of Il different color, which he
causes to adhere to the bottom of the
stem. The man spins il around between
his shears, nipping part of it almost OF,
and thus gaining the right quantity of
metal for the foot, 10 less and 10 more.
One tap on an iron ledge breaks the su-
pertluous piece, and leaves small hole
at the point Of the fracture. Once more
the action Of the fire is called III to soft
en- the brittle material, and when the
NllttN Chlllt bllt lllN vi
the closed shears are introduced to
widen the opening into a cuplilie form.
A small lump Of avvcnturino is by
this time on the end of the boys rod,
melted and only saved from dropping
by his deXtcrity. One touch and it ad-
heres to the end of the cup just formed.
He puts it out and winds it around, adj
herring as it goes to the edge Again the
fire does its duty, and then the artist
finishes the form of the foot, dctaching
Immediately the bulb at the top from
his hollow rod. Another rod, with a
molten piece of glass, is prepared for
him by the boys ready cooperation,
and is pressed against the center of the
foot, to which it adheres. Into the fire
goes the whole piece, and when with
drawn the bowl of the glass is partly
shaped by the shears, avvonturino wound
around the edge as before with the foot.
A last heat, and with artistic care the
delicate, crocuslike bowl, which is some
day to conAin the sparkling wine, is
completed. London Globe.
The Minuteness of Spores.
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