As promised, here is Part II of Glass Making Techniques; we apologise for the delay.

For centuries, glass making factories have continued to use similar basic equipment, with blowing-room layouts that have adapted to special needs, while fuels, tools & processes, have evolved.   Basically, glass objects are formed by free-blowing, mold-blowing, mold pressing, or a combination of these 3 techniques.

Free-blowing glass is formed by hand, using basic hand tools.   The blowing iron (blowpipe) used to gather glass from the glass pot, then to blow the basic bubble (parison), which is then shaped with basic tools.

Mold-blowing by blowing the parison into a full-size mold, which can by plain, or have a molded or cut pattern on the inside (in reverse).  

Mold pressing done by placing a gather of hot glass in a mold & pressing it into the desired form with a plunger.

Fuels for glass Kilns   Glass works up until the 1870's were fueled with first dried dung, wood, then sometimes peat, coal, & coke ash.   These large Bee-Hive type kilns needed great quantities of fuel, and large bellows to supply enough oxygen to burn hot enough to make the glass.   the ash from these fires was extremely dirty, and got into the glass making process.  Also, the uneven fire temperatures caused occlusions in the glass where the sand did not turn to slag fully.   In the 1870's a new fuel was being used.   One that was clean burning, that you could regulate the temperature of, was very cost effective, and reduced the size of the kilns.   This new energy source was Natural Gas.   The glass could be made without impurities & inclusions.  (flint glass got cleaner, clearer, brighter!)

Cutting & Etching Glass  At the same time Natural Gas was making kilns more efficient,   Electicity was being introduced in glassworks to run cutting, etching, & polishing equipment.   Previously this was done by muscle power, steam, and watermill, & was slow & tiresome, done almost exclusively by apprentices, & master glass cutters by trundle power, etc..   Electricity made it faster, cheaper, better!   Suddenly a master cutter was free to design & cut glass exclusively, and not have to trundle & become too itred to think at the same time.   Enter the period of AMERICAN BRILLIANT CUT GLASS!

I hope this explitive helps the reader in some way.   Thank you for your time, & happy ebuying to all!