Work of Art

Blowing

Every piece of Moser glassware is wrought by fire and given shape with human breath. Making a piece of glass is an act of teamwork, with each worker dependent on the others. Timing and precision are essential, because glass cools quickly. In Moser glassworks, a team of three workers whose tasks are strictly defined attends each pot. The team has its own hierarchy. There is the master or gaffer, who is the most skilled and experienced of the group, the chief blower and one helper - the gatherer. The gatherer gathers a gob of molten paste on the end of its blowpipe and blows the flask. The chief blower places the ball of molten glass into a moistened wooden mould, the mould is closed and the blower blows through his spinning mouth-pipe until the molten glass coats the walls of the mould. The mould is then opened and the glass is lifted out in its new shape. The blowpipe is then handed to the master, who shapes the stem and the foot by spinning it against a wet wooden tool held in one hand. When these successive operations have been completed, one helper puts the still extremely hot glass in the tunnel-like annealing oven through which it glides on a conveyor belt. Here the glass will submit, for 1 to 24 hours, but in the case of extremely thick pieces much more, to a gradual lowering temperature. Only when completely cold is the glass ready for cutting. An important part of the hot work is the fabrication of coloured glass. The process involves metallic oxides or metals, which are added to the original composition to produce the colours: for example, cobalt oxide produces blue colour, nickel oxide produces violet, etc. Before moving on to the cold workshop, the glass must be submitted to a preliminary inspection - the first quality control, to insure that it meets the right dimensions and is free of any imperfection. The object not corresponding to the required parameters in the thickness or length of a stem, with a bubble in glass or a scratch invisible to the untrained eye are destroyed and then recycled. The glasses, which successfully pass the test, are ready for cutting department. But first, the cap that connected the blowing pipe to the incandescent ball is removed by means of thermal shock. Than the sharp edges are rounded off.