Czech glass - one of the most beautiful in the world

Glass - one of the oldest materials, which was known to man almost five thousand years. In the Czech Republic, as early as the beginning of the 12th century, glassmaking began to develop from very high-quality sands. Presumably, the first skills of the master were obtained from the Venetians skilled in this matter, but quickly outstripped their teachers. Czech glass began to spread all over Europe.

Raw materials

For the manufacture of glass requires the purest sand. He was in the Czech Republic. We need potash. This was more difficult. For its production, it was necessary to turn the wood into a whitish ash. In addition to potash, we needed wood for cooking glass. And they needed a lot, so when around the stoves, which called guta, the whole forest was cut down, the glassmakers moved with the stove to another place. And because the masters constantly moved, their settlements were called either Guta, or Novaya Guta, or some other way, but the toponym "guta" was almost always present and preserved in names until our days. The cooking of glass was a family matter and was kept secret. Some secrets of cooking, which surrounded the Czech glass, have survived to this day.

Production

Initially, the glass was boiled in low ovens (guts), in which were put open clay pots. They filled up the constituent parts - sand, potash and heated the furnace to the highest temperatures, over 1000 ° C. The furnaces could not stand for a long time, and they had to be changed frequently.

In modern production, the hardened welded glass is first softened and a viscous fire mass is obtained. The glassblower takes a special hollow metal tube. So that it does not heat up and it can be held in hand, it is trimmed by one third with a tree, and the part that touches the mouth of the glassblower is made of brass. Its tip is lowered into molten glass. Constantly twisting it, he collects a drop of the necessary size and shape. With special scissors it cuts it off of the total mass, then puts it in a damp wooden form and, exhaling into the tube, gives the drop of the hot glass the required appearance with walls of a certain thickness. But artistic products can be blown out and without form. Just the master knows the properties of the material very well, and can create works of art only by blowing. So, in general terms, we told how the Czech glass does.

Grinding and polishing

But this does not end there. The finished chilled product falls into the hands of grinders. A very thin layer of glass is removed with special discs, and the shape and thickness of the glass is specified. After that, quality is checked. Then the brilliant product comes to the carvers and engravers, who make complex ornaments and monograms. Often after this, some details gild and again check the quality. Finally comes the final stage - polishing with special pastes and last quality control. Thus, the Czech glass was ready for sale. His assortment is extremely diverse, and we will describe it below.

What is Bohemian glass?

This is a special Czech glass. Bohemia is an area that occupies almost half of the Czech Republic, it began to boil glass with the addition of lead oxide. This happened more than three hundred years ago, in the second half of the XVII century. Lead gave the products heaviness, special transparency, the play of light with all the colors of the rainbow, sonority. These strong and heavy products gradually, especially in the East, replaced the fragile and delicate products of Venetian glass blowers. And to this day the best Czech crystal is produced in Bohemia. It makes toys, vases, glasses, chandeliers, which are polished by hand. And all products have a long crystal ringing.

Czech colored glass

The color of the glass is given by oxides of various metals. If you add cobalt in the cooking process, the result is a rich blue, like sapphire, color, if gold is a gold ruby, if copper is a copper ruby. These two red colors differ in their shades, of course, with gold look nobler. Various shades of green are obtained with the addition of iron, uranium and chromium, and pink imparts silicon. Noble brown tones give manganese.

Very often such a glass is used in the manufacture of stained glass.

Often in the process of manufacturing products use two colors. First, a clear glass is drawn onto the tube, then it is lowered into a colored glass, which completely closes the original workpiece. After blowing it is limited so that part of the colored glass is removed and an intricate transparent pattern is formed on a colored background. This way often decorate the vases.

Vases - a special conversation

In order not to be unfounded, we give examples of Czech colored cast glass. These vases are all made by experienced masters without the use of forms. Each of them is a unique unique work. Pink with a transparent base is for flowers. The second, cobalt - it's candy. Now all the exclusivity of such material as Czech glass is visible, the vases from which are so different.

Czech decorations

Who was in the Czech Republic, it will never return without the world-famous costume jewelry "Applelox" or "Bohemia style." This glass is often fused with gold, silver, copper or bronze. Especially good are headsets with necklaces and earrings, and just beads. Czech glass is an eternal decoration, which is not terrible, as, for example, pearls, perspiration or accidentally spilled vegetable oil. In addition, the choice of the sizes of beads is huge - from the largest and massive to bubbly and elegant. All jewelry is handmade, and therefore it is author's.

In conclusion, we should say that the Czech Republic is nearby, and we will be understood in it in Russian, and if we are to strain ourselves, we can also understand something from our native Slavic speech.