Historical Glass

I read a post on Watch Me Create this morning that included some great links for anyone interested in ancient glass.

My memory was jogged and I remembered I had this image of a bead on my computer that I took from The Museum of Bristol's website some time ago.



I am so in awe of things that were acheived in the past (not just beads), when people had so much less in the way of equipment and past knowledge than we do.  This bead was likely created with the use of a complicated cane, the precision in the dots is just amazing!

Look at this bottle from 9th Century BC Egypt -



taken from the Virtual Egyptian Museum.  Isn't it beautiful!  If you click the link to the museum you'll find that it didn't originally have the wonderful lustre that it does now, that is something that has happened over time.

This rare cup from the same site is even older!!



How wonderful it would be to travel back and see these craftsmen and artists at work!

The interesting thing about the Virtual Egyptian Museum is that they explain the techniques that would have been used to create each of these pieces.  Be sure to take a look at their bead collection!!



Examples like this from the Roman period are making me think I want to revisit dot beads!  I haven't made any for a while and I think it is time.  What fun it would be to try and recreate some of these early beads.

Here is a really interesting link on how Romans would construct their glass canes. romanglassmakers.co.uk , and here is part two

I've just spent over an hour reading and exploring this site and can't say enough about how interesting it is!  Go visit Roman Glass Makers!! You'll learn everything from how the Romans made window glass, to the canes, to blown vessels, blown vessels made with molds and everything in between.  Is it me, or do these guys have the best job in the world?  Combining archaelogy, history and glass all in one place!

There is nothing like admiring other people's work and art to get you inspired to go and create some of your own!