Simple Cup

Blown Glass Beaker or Cup

This beaker or Cup could have been every day wears from 11 – 13 century or from a number of places that were doing blown glass either before or after this period. This is a basic straight walled cup blown from clear glass.  I Found 2 examples form 800-899 that are very similar to the glass, the example from 1175 -1225 is a taller skinnier glass that I was trying to make. My first mistake in this process is that I let the assistant make the bottom to large and then let her smush the top down as she was paddling the piece giving me a shorter squatter glass. The example from 1175-1225 is also engraved. I hope to make a glass that is similar in shape to be able to pass it off to Brianna O’Dineen to engrave at some point. 2 of my 3 examples are in colors glass, the glass I am using is clear and is colored by adding color between the 1st and 2nd gather  In period they may have had colored glass created by from the different glass recipes  from ingredients in the glass or may have added color as accent. The piece for 1175 did have enameled color added as well as being blown blue.

The process of blowing this glass was to first take a gather of clear glass from a furnace of hot molten glass on the end of a blow pipe. A blowpipe is about 5 feet long and is hollow to allow air to go through it. The glass was then mavered on a steal table which I period could have been marble  the process of marving helps shape the glass in to a ball and is also a heat sink to chill the sides of the glass so that a bubble Is easier to form. I then blew through the pipe and created a small bubble.  The glass was then warmed in the glory hole (a large forge like furnace made for heating glass while blowing) I then took a 2nd gather of glass and start working on manipulations to form the glass shape. I then did several manipulations of creating a jack line, forming the bottom of the glass and with an assistant helping to blow the glass out. I also did a few drops of holing the pipe vertical and letting gravity elongate the glass.  Finally with an assistance help the glass was put on the ponty ( a smaller pole that has a little bit of glass on the end for finishing shaping the lip and creating the shape of the walls of the glass.  Once on the ponty I fist straighten the walls of the glass so it was straight walled, opening up the small jack line area of the glass to the straight walled lip using Jacks.  I then had help to paddle the lip in the process of paddling the lip the glass was smushed shorter creating the rings at the top of the glass.  Finally the glass was knocked off the ponty and the bottom was fire polished before being put in the annealer for 12 hours to cool.

Example of cups like this one from period.

Colorless, with streaks of pale purple. Blown. Bowl: cylindrical. Rim plain, with rounded lip; wall (Th. 0.1 cm) almost vertical; base plain; pontil mark roughly circular (D. 0.6 cm) Date 800-899.Corning museum of glass Accession number 69.1.97

Transparent bluish tinge; straight side rises vertically to slightly inverted rim; base flat and thickened at center. Date 800-899 Corning museum of Glass Accession number 67.1.41

Transparent deep blue glass with numerous bubbles, some very dark brown inclusions, and few dark blue and brown streamers; blown, gilded, enameled, scratched. The rim is plain, with a rounded lip; the wall (Th. 0.1-0.15) is straight, tapering slightly and curving in at the bottom; the base is plain, with colorless pontil mark (D. 1.1 cm.) Date Date 

1175-1225 Corning Musuem of Glass Accession number 67.1.20

First  Glass I  Made (Not the glass on display)