Crystal and Glassware

Glassmaking can be traced back to Mesopotamina at or around 3500 B.C. It is no coincidence that the discovery and evolution of glass parallels that of the furnace which was used to smelt the metals and alloys of the day. One can imagine the bronze manufacturer staring down into his kiln and finding dark nodules which formed as a result of dust being drawn into the heating chamber. The sooty blackness of the combustion products had merged with and overtaken the otherwise transparent material.

Who were the first artisans to attempt to "smelt" a crude combination of sand and soda ash? We will never know. Perhaps they were trying to recreate something they had found in nature (See the BBC Documentary: Ancient Egyptian Glass From Outer Space). But their efforts were the first steps in an industry which has survived and thrives to this day. A material which can be shaped to demand, with variations only as limited by the imagination and with seemingly endless uses. This is glass.