Tid Bits About This Dynamic Medium.

Glass dates back centuries to when it was originally found on the beach and then remelted to create larger pieces. Once people were able to produce glass from raw chemicals, they began to add color and play with different properties. Throughout history, glass has been a dynamic part of human society. From containment vessels like plates, bowls, and cups to modern fiberglass and cutting edge materials research, there are endless possibilities of what we can do with this great material.

Today, glass is used to provide patrons with a safe way to admire the outdoors yet block the potentially harmful elements. We use it in our monitors. Glass is used to hold liquids like perfume, cologne, and beverages. We use lightbulbs to light up our homes. It's all around us. But what exactly is it?

Glass is an amorphous solid -- that is, a solid with no particular structure. The easiest way to think about it would be to imagine a uniform lattice -- for you science geeks out there, think about salt, NaCl. But instead of every atom being neatly packed away in a specific, repeating pattern, they are randomly connected to each other in a sort of mesh-style. This "random lattice" provides glass with its tricky properties.

Depending on the use of the glass, there are a number of different types. One of the more common types is soda-lime, or soda-ash, glass. It is often referred to as a softer glass and can be used in a variety of applications. Most artistic pieces of glass are made from soda-lime glass. Pyrex, or Kyrex, glass is a slightly "stiffer" glass that has a higher melting temperature. Because of its higher melting point, it is often used in scientific applications and in kitchen cookware. Glass can also be drawn into thin threads known as "glass fiber." These fibers can be compacted into "pillows" to create fiberglass which is often used for insulation; or they can be used, if they have thicker diameters, as fiber optic cables.

This is just a brief overview of the general uses of glass. The glass industry is immense and spans all parts of globe. It can be easily synthesized from a variety of cheap and easily accessible ingredients. What is not always as easy to produce with glass, though, is color.

In most cases, colored glass can be created for relatively low prices. To add color to glass, different ratios of a variety of chemicals are added to the batch prior to melting. After mixing the basic ingredients into the crucible, heavy metals are added to create spectacular color variations. Some examples of colorants are cobalt for a deep blue, copper for a light aquamarine, and gold for a brilliant red. As you can imagine, certain colors can become expensive rather fast depending on the compound that is used.

The art of working with glass has been around far longer than the industrial giants of the modern era. Over the years, this science has evolved into a spectacular array of disciplines and techniques. As it was a highly guarded trade up until the mid 1900's, many facts and traditions of glass have been hidden in the notebooks of world-famous gaffers. Many have taken steps in the direction of sharing these invaluable notes with the glassblowing community, but there are still trade secrets that have yet to be discovered.