Cold glass techniques in an industrial context

Glass pieces can be made "ready" in the hot shop, that is so there is no need for post-processing. Examples of hot-shop ready-mades abound here at Bergdalahyttan: all of the "Blue rim" products, several of the art pieces etc.

All other objects need some kind of post production work. It can be "utilitarian" work like cracking off tops, grinding and heating rims, but also many forms of decoration: cutting, engraving, etching, staining, painting, applying decals...

This kind of work is generally called "cold techniques". Cold techniques often involve heating of the objects - one definition of "cold" can be that the glass is not malleable, thus the temperature must be below 400-450 ^oC.

Cutting, engraving and (sand) blasting are examples of purely mechanical decoration techniques, while etching is a chemical process. Staining, lustring, painting and using decals are all techniques that require heat, up to about 400 ^oC.

Cutting and engraving are techniques which are partly beside our interests. Granted, many services have been cut, but as cutting takes time such objects have always been exclusive. Our interest lies with the techniques for cheap mass-production. However, we do own a grinding machine and a modern engraving tool, hand-held like a dentist's drill.
We hope to get hold of a cutting wheel, of the type used for pattern cutting, but so far we have to refer to the links page for a couple of videos showing wheel-cutting.

In the museum we have several machines used for etching, namely two pantographs and two guilloché machinges (geometrical etching machines).
On these pages we describe etching techniques in a historical perspektive, and try to make a time-line for the history of etching in Sweden.

One page describe how staining and lustring is made.

Here we also describe how blasting is used in Sweden, historically and today.

Lastly there is a page on decals for decoration, a modern alternative to hand-painting.