Hello dear Steemians, after my previous post about a beautiful time I spent in Novy Bor in Czech republic I get an information about this Steemit Worldmap. There are lots of posts and at least one from every Europe country instead of my homeland Slovakia. Then i remembered I wrote 3 posts about a glass school from my country, but it was at least three months ago and I can not edit this posts now and add a link into them so they would appear at this map. That is why I decided to write a new post where I will summarize this 3 posts and add also a pin into the map, so everyone can visit it at least through their screens. And now, the school...
Secondary vocational school of glassmaking offers an education in a glass industry and design. Students can learn how to blow, paint and cut glass, but also some other ways of decorating. The school is the only one glass school in Slovakia and it is connected to the company RONA a.s. which is known for its long-term glass industry in the best quality.
The school has its own kiln where students can learn to blow and shape glass. Inside of the kiln there is about 2000 °C, so you can imagine it is not easy to work near it.
After the glass is blown and shaped, it has to be cooled in a tempering furnace, so the pressure in the glass can be removed. The glass can be grinded, cutted and polished. For rough cutting we use diamond discs. It has to be wet all the time, otherwise the glass breaks because of the high temperature.
For smoothing the surface we use pumice, a plunged disc, or a polyurethane disc. The best way to polish glass is by using rubber disc with cerium oxide. After this process the glass is soft and clear.
Here are some of my works made by blowing, grinding and sandblasting:
Glass can be painted too. Students use leaded paint which is made of a glass powder. For painting are used pens or brushes made of animal hair.
Paint preparation is not fast and simple always. The glass powder has to be mixed with terpentine and screen printing oil. Then it has to berubbed against a glass plate so all the bigger parts of the glass will break.
They also use liquid metals and listers.
The paint, metals and listers are burned out in a temperature of 560 °C. This process takes a day.
Here are the results, mostly made by my friends and schoolmates :)
The form for this face was made by me. First it is made of clay, then suffuse by gypsum. After you need to drill lots of holes into the form so the steam can leave easily while the hot glass is blown into it.
Another great work with glass is in stained glass workshop. You can use just transparent glass sheets with some nice structure, or colorful, which are more expensive but more beautiful. First you need to prepare a pattern, draw it on the glass sheets and cut with a diamond cutter.
The glass pieces can be connected with lead profiles, or with tin. The second option is called Tiffany technique. In this technique the copper tape is used. Edges of the glass pieces are covered by it, so tin can connect the pieces. Sometimes a glass facets are grinded, so the colorless glass looks nicer.
Glass pieces can be painted too...
And there are not only flat stained glass works for windows. Students create also candle holders, sculptures, CD holders and lots of other things, sometimes even connected with wood, metal or other materials.
There is one more section - Glass jewelry. It is usually combined with metals, but also with a smooth fabric, or wood.
Lampwork is a technique where glass rods are used to be melted and connected to beads or some small objects (animals, figures and so on). In our school we only make beads.
The work with glass is extraordinary and people are thrilled about it. The students win lots of prizes all around the country and also abroad, but there is always less and less young people interested in this amazing craft.
!steemitworldmap 49.068018 lat 18.286743 long This town it known for its glass products in the highest quality. d3scr
Thanks for watching!
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wow Nice Photo 💕
Good Working @marty-arts
Thanks for the lesson. It's always nice to learn how these things are made.
Glass maker gotta bear with insanely high temperature