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Glass Vases: An ancient art form for your home décor

These days, it’s easier than ever to find fine hand-blown glass vases. This is because there is a recent rise in glassblowing thanks to new glassblowing technology that was discovered in the 1960’s that made it easier for craftsmen to blow glass. The discovery was that a certain kind of glass could be blown in small furnaces rather than the large equipment that was traditionally used. Soon after, skilled artists like Dale Chihuly helped spark an interest in the craft.

VASES ARE SOME OF THE EARLIEST GLASS OBJECTS FOUND

Vases have been around since ancient times, as a matter of fact, fragments of glass vases are some of the earliest glass objects found, and beads were the very first glass items found. Fragments of glass vases found in Mesopotamia date back to the 16th century BC. Even before the 16th century BC, glass had been used as a glaze on vases. It was in the third millennium, in central Mesopotamia, that the basic raw materials of glass were being used mainly to produce glazes on pots and vases. The discovery may have been coincidental, since calciferous sand may have found its way into an overheated kiln and combined with soda to form a colored glaze on the ceramics. At this time, Phoenician merchants and sailors spread these new glazed vases along the coasts of the Mediterranean. Then, as previously mentioned, it was in the 16th century BC that vases were first made entirely of glass

After 1500 BC, Egyptians developed a method for producing glass vessels by dipping a core mold of compacted sand into molten glass, then turning the mold so that the molten glass adhered to it, and finally rolling it on a slab of stone to smooth and decorate it. The earliest examples of Egyptian glassware are three vases bearing the name of the Pharaoh Thoutmosis III (1504-1450 BC). This Pharaoh had brought Asian glassmakers to Egypt as prisoners following a successful military campaign in Asia.

Glassmaking revived in Mesopotamia in the 9th century BC, became centered in Alessandria over the next 500 years, and then spread to Italy. A few years later, some time between 27 BC and AD 14, glass blowing was discovered and it revolutionized the craft. Syrian craftsmen from the Sidon-Babylon area started using a long thin metal tube to blow air into glass to help shape it, and this method has actually changed very little since then.

These days, you can still find lovely hand-blown vases that were made using pretty much the same method. And having something made in this ancient tradition, yet also entirely unique, is part of what makes these fascinating additions to your home décor.

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