An Insight into Murano Glass Lamp working Technique

An Insight into Murano Glass Lamp working Technique Lamp working can be considered, related to the process which occurs in the furnace, the other major branch of Murano glass making techniques. It is an operation mostly solitary, during which the craftsman or artist is face to face with the vitreous material to which is ideally and practically connected via the flame of the torch - also called “Cannello�.

It is a method of ancient origin, evolved from century to century, decade by decade, supported by technological inventions developed gradually over time. The name itself reveals the beginning: the heat necessary to melt the glass was obtained from the flame of a candle lamp fed from the air conveyed by a bellows activated by foot. Through the years, this simple instrumentation has been replaced by a metallic tube connected to a propane or methane gas cylinder, nowadays mostly reinforced by oxygen emissions for increasing the temperature of the burning beam that is directed onto the glass.

Murano and Borosilicate glass: the only limit is the creativity of the artist The two main strands of the lamp working technique are structured on two different types of glass: borosilicate glass, harder and more durable material that requires more heat to be worked, and the Murano glass, composed of sodium and calcium, more ductile, with a longer tradition and far more widespread in the island factories.

Both the processes based on the two types of glass involve the construction of objects through the development of filled and blown bodies. Regarding the creation of filled bodies, the range of items that can be extracted from the vitreous mass is huge, and has as main limitation the artist's creativity: from classic pearls that could become pendants or necklaces to sculptures of plants and animals, from cats to horses; from elephants to beetles; fish and ducks, in a fancy swirl that can only enchant the viewer's eye and stimulate his/her own curiosity.

The starting point of lampworking is the sphere in almost all cases. To obtain the sphere, the artisan or the artist heats the glass rod (a semi-finished product that is sold in three different shades:

transparent, pastel and opaline, for an almost unlimited range of color variations) under the flame, turning the wrist forward and backward in order to round up the rod’s end and transform it in a glowing sphere.

At that point, depending on what the product has to be created, lamp workers can use various tools and specific movements for shaping the material until it takes on the desired appearance. One can rub the sphere on the “Bronzin" (the flat metal plate placed above the torch) withcalm, rotator gestures, in order to impart to the melt a more cylindrical form (operation called "Marmorizar") or press it on the same surface but in a different way, with a greater inclination towards the edge, exerting the force necessary to bring out a tip ("Pontizar" in jargon).

In order to facilitate the grip on the glowing sphere,a second rod is used in many cases, generally of lesser thickness, called "Ponteo": once in contact with the sphere, the lamp worker maintains its temperature slightly lower than the molten glass’s one, so to be able to use the "Ponteo" like an operational wand without mixing it with the hot mass in the definition phase.

A real magic is handed down from generation to generation, reinvented every day when the individual craftsman or artist sits behind the stem and leaves free rein to his imagination.

Lampworking is a unique charm that takes on its full significance in the workshops scattered through the streets and the “fondamente” of the Island of the Glass.

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