The procedure to give a form to glass is blowing: free or with moulds. The glass mass, when ready, removed from the crucible with blow pipe, is first made to roll on a metal plate called a bronzino, to give it a cylindrical, regular shape, and then blown. The partially blown piece is repeatedly heated and moulded using special instruments and numerous blowings, until it achieves its definitive form. The blowing technique may be varied using iron or bronze moulds or wood that is kept wet. In these forms, the bubble is blown, which is moulded by dilating and shaping it on the internal walls. The dimensions of the object may be increased by heating and blowing the piece again. A special system invented by the Muranese glassworkers is “mezza stampatura” [half moulding], which allows objects to be created with ridges in relief: to the bottom of a partially blown glass, still attached to the pipe, another layer of glass is applied, and the whole item obtained in this way is blown again, inserting it inside an open ridged mould. The result of this operation is glass with thin upper walls, which in the thicker lower part are worked with more or less deep ridges with a particularly elegant effect.

Then the process is finished, the bottom of the object is fixed with a drop of molten glass to a metrelong bar called a “pontello”, which allows the glassworker to support the item during the operations of hot finishing and decoration. The finishing touches may be simply confined to the defining of a smooth or beaten edge, or to the application of handles, but also consist in decorations composed of glass threads stuck onto the outer walls. Finally, the object is detached using a special pair of scissors called “taglianti”.
During the 15th century, and particularly from the end of the 16th, the most prestigious blown glass was embellished by applications of woven glass braids, worked using pliers, and also by often very elaborate edges. The blown glass made in Murano between the late 15th century and the beginning of the following were richly coloured with enamel and gold. This was a decorative technique obtained from the combination of very ancient procedures, reworked in an original way by the Muranese glassworkers: the great Islamic tradition of enamel on glass and that of the gilded glass dating back to the Roman Age together gave rise to objects of rare beauty. In Florence the glassworker’s art, cultivated from the 14th century, achieved an extremely high level thanks to the Medici, also with the contribution of Venetian glassworkers. But undoubtedly the key location for this work, the crossroads of Europe where different cultures mixed, giving rise to unbelievable creations, was Venice. Still today, visiting Murano and observing the craftsmanship in working this precious material is fascinating and impressive.
This is an art that is timeless.