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Course: The J. Paul Getty Museum > Unit 2
Lesson 1: Ancient glassmaking- Glassmaking: history and techniques
- Ancient glass at the Getty
- Glassmaking technique: mold-blown glass
- Roman mold-blown glass
- Glassmaking technique: core-formed glass
- Glassmaking technique: free-blown glass
- Glassmaking technique: mosaic glass
- Glassmaking technique: gold glass
- Glassmaking technique: cameo glass
- Glassmaking quiz
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Glassmaking technique: cameo glass
Ancient Roman cameo glass layers different colors of glass. The top layer is partly cut away to create a design of contrasting color (footage from the Corning Museum of Glass). Created by Getty Museum.
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At1:50, He uses a pen. Does that pen have to be a special type, like (for example, sewing) cloth marking pens?(6 votes)- I don't think it would have to be a special pen to put the guidelines on the glass. It might be something like a sharpie. As long as it dries quickly, and can be removed from the glass if neccessary, it would be fine.(3 votes)
How long does it take to make the whole vessel?(2 votes)
Glass making can be between 3 hours to 8 hours depending on what you are making. Some glass may take days to make. That's a lot of reheating and cooling(3 votes)
What exactly is a cameo glass.(2 votes)
A cameo glass is a type of glass that is made by fusing different layers of glass together and the top layer etched through to make a design that contrasts color. It is seen to have been first made by the Romans around 30 BC, but Roman cameo glass is very hard to come by nowadays. One famous piece, the Portland Vase, can be seen in the British Museum, and the Morgan Cup can be seen in Corning Museum of Glass.(4 votes)
how do they get the glass off the pipe,do they wait until it drys and break it?(1 vote)
If you had watched previous videos you would realize that in those videos they explain how to get the glass off the pipe; the object only has to be slightly dry, not recently heated. With the object lying on a surface, tap the pipe lightly and the glass should gently fall off, not broken in any way.(4 votes)
If you mess up, is there anyway to go back?(3 votes)
Not really! Once glass touches other glass, it is nearly impossible to seperate them, so not really.(1 vote)
The glass makers wouldn't have these tools back then to carve the details, so did they have to carve it all by hand using small carving tools?(2 votes)- They used hard stones and metals to grind the glass. The type of glass that was used in those times would have been realtively "soft" and could have been easily carved without the need for modern diamond tipped instruments.(1 vote)
- What type of tool would the Ancient Romans have used to carve into the glass?(2 votes)
- How much would something like that cost?(1 vote)
- Ancient roman vessels would be priceless. You can likely buy a cameo vase with simple carving from a respected artist for around 800-2,000 USD. Depending on the complexity, some modern vases have sold for 100,000 USD. The company Pilgrim Glass is renowed for having some of the most beautiful cameo glass ever created.(1 vote)
1:50Video transcript
Voiceover: The technique of
cameo glass begins by layering different colors of glass and
then inflating and shaping them together to form a vessel. When cool, decorative designs
are carved into the outer layer. First, molten blue glass is
inflated at the end of a blowpipe and stretched to form a tube. The tube is lowered into a
pot of molten white glass. The white glass re-softens the blue glass. The two layers are reheated. The vessel's body is shaped
and the bottom flattened. A pontil is attached and the vessel
is broken free of the blowpipe. The mouth is reheated and
then shaped to create the rim. Once cool, a cutting wheel removes excess
white glass that overlays the blue. A design is laid out to guide
the carving of the white glass. Smaller wheels are used to
create the finer decoration. Liquid abrasive is dripped onto the
wheel to help cut away the glass. Finally, a sharp tool is used
to create the smallest details.