Chandelier Glass Blowing

Blowing any glass is a very skilled art. To free hand blow chandelier arms takes years to acquire this skill. There are many types of solid and hollow arms and the experience of our craftsman ensures the closest possible match both in the quality of the glass and the shapes to which we have acquainted ourselves over many years. The blowing depicted is of a rope 6/8 rib twist arm. Naturally our expertise extends to blowing any chandelier components.

Blowing into a chandelier mould

The mould is an instrument to assist the perfection of shape used by the glass blower. Our mould makers cast moulds to the clients glass specification. We hold existing stocks of wooden, carbon and cast moulds and in many cases these can be utilised for restoration of chandelier components. Where a suitable mould cannot be easily found we will cast moulds which then become the clients property. Here we show our glassblower blowing into a mould for a canopy to a chandelier. All our glass for the U.K. market is blown to 32% lead crystal. Some countries now legislate against what is known as full lead and require a piece with all the quality but with modern day standards being adhered too. We accommodate these requests, to achieve the match of an old piece of glass the recipe is adapted. Our glass can be blown from cullet or new metal with pigmentation added to achieve the best possible results.

Glass Cutting

Glasscutting to fine detail requires an enormous amount of training and expertise. Our glasscutters are some of the finest in the world. These days cutting on a manufacturing basis is sometimes carried out by computers. In the restoration field this luxury can not be afforded or tolerated. Each piece of glass is painstaking marked out first by the glass cutter to ensure an exact copy. He then sets to work hand cutting with carborundum on his cutting lathe, patiently and skilfully following the precise patterns previous scribed on the glass. Many hours can be expended on the most intricate details. Other glass workshop skills include glass drilling and glass bending, etching and engraving.

Glass Polishing

Purely in restoration our glasscutters polish their own pieces of work. The modern way to polish is to dip the cut glass into a bath of acid, sometimes the cutter would hand refine this process. Yet again, this method is not tolerable in restoration. Each cut the cutter has made is hand polished with polishing compound using brush and cork to accomplish the sharp - knife edge required in polishing of the ultimate standard.