Glass - The oldest artistic product in the world
Since time immemorial, the qualities and properties of glass have fascinated and inspired mankind to produce fantastic artefacts. The tricky process of creating glass takes knowledge and patience, but when mastered the result is fantastic.
Even though glass is the world's oldest artistic product, experienced glass-makers still experiment with it and use a range of exciting new techniques in manufacturing modern glassware. And manufacturing glass requires great care and precision.
A magical process
Experience the magic of more than 2000 years of tradition, feel the heat from a glowing oven and see with your own eyes how the glass-maker blows life into the glowing glass that in the space of minutes clears and takes form.
Glass is a peculiar material – it is not a solid, it is rather a slowly flowing mass which allows the glass-maker to produce his fantastic creations. Glass products can look incredible – as if the molten glass' movement has been frozen and captured. Just one of the things that makes glass-work so fascinating.
A temperature of 1300 degrees is required to transform sand, soda and lime into glass. The glass-maker blows the glass with his "pipe", the temperature falls and the glass changes. At 1000°C, it is syrupy and at 800-900°C, it becomes tough and thick. Between 500-600°C, the glass starts to stiffen and harden and it is in this brief period when the glass is firm but flexible that the glass-maker can form his product and give the glass identity.
Photo:Turismeudvikling Hjørring
Beautiful Glass
Glass-work is an art the Egyptians mastered over 2000 years ago. In Northern Jutland, a number of glass-makers still practice these arts and will happily tell you about their work and how they blow and form the glass at temperatures of 1100°C. Some of them also use the so-called “cold glass method” in which the glass is modeled whilst cold and thereafter baked in a closed oven at temperatures of up to 860°C. The glass-makers' art is expressed in a variety of forms: beautiful drinking glasses, platters, bowls – and unique individual products.