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Glassblowing
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====Free-blowing==== [[File:Brooklyn Glass (32606)a.jpg|alt=Glassworking in a hot shop in New York City|thumb|Glassworking in a hot shop in New York City]] This method held a pre-eminent position in glassforming ever since its introduction in the middle of the 1st century BC until the late 19th century, and is still widely used as a glassforming technique, especially for artistic purposes. The process of free-blowing involves the blowing of short puffs of air into a molten portion of glass called a "gather" which has been spooled at one end of the blowpipe. This has the effect of forming an elastic skin on the interior of the glass blob that matches the exterior skin caused by the removal of heat from the furnace. The glassworker can then quickly inflate the molten glass to a coherent blob and work it into a desired shape.<ref name="Cummings"/><ref name="Mariacher">{{cite book|last1=Mariacher|first1=G|title=Glass: from Antiquity to the Renaissance|isbn=0600012506|date=1970|publisher=The Hamlyn Publishing Group Limited|location=Middlesex|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/gothicilluminate00coen}} (apparently out of print)</ref><ref name="Zerwick">{{cite book|author1=Chloe Zerwick|author2=Corning Museum of Glass|title=A short history of glass|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G1ZQAAAAMAAJ|date=May 1990|publisher=H.N. Abrams in association with the Corning Museum of Glass|isbn=9780810938014}}</ref> Researchers at the [[Toledo Museum of Art]] attempted to reconstruct the ancient free-blowing technique by using clay blowpipes. The result proved that short clay blowpipes of about {{convert|30|β|60|cm|abbr=on}} facilitate free-blowing because they are simple to handle and to manipulate and can be re-used several times.<ref name="Stern">{{cite book|author1=Birgit Schlick-Nolte|author2=E. Marianne|title=Early glass of the ancient world: 1600 B.C.-A.D. 50 : Ernesto Wolf collection|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dJUsAQAAIAAJ&q=clay+blowpipe|year=1994|publisher=[[Gerd Hatje|Verlag Gerd Hatje]]|isbn=978-3-7757-0502-8|pages=81β83}}</ref> Skilled workers are capable of shaping almost any vessel forms by rotating the pipe, swinging it and controlling the temperature of the piece while they blow. They can produce a great variety of glass objects, ranging from drinking cups to window glass. An outstanding example of the free-blowing technique is the [[Portland Vase]], which is a cameo manufactured during the Roman period. An experiment was carried out by Gudenrath and Whitehouse<ref name="Gudnerath">{{cite journal |last1=Gudenrath |first1=W. |last2=Whitehouse |first2=D. |year=1990 |title= The Manufacture of the Vase of its Ancient Repair |journal=Journal of Glass Studies |volume= 32 |pages= 108β121 |jstor=24188035}}</ref> with the aim of re-creating the Portland Vase. A full amount of blue glass required for the body of the vase was gathered on the end of the blowpipe and was subsequently dipped into a pot of hot white glass. Inflation occurred when the glassworker blew the molten glass into a sphere which was then stretched or elongated into a vase with a layer of white glass overlying the blue body.
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