Lampworkers (or flameworkers) use a variety of tools and technology to make glass, but the most important element is a flame hot enough to melt glass. For many centuries lampworkers used lamps powered by oil, paraffin, or tallow along with air supplied by a foot-powered bellows or the glassworker’s breath. Today flameworkers use torches fueled by gas and oxygen, sometimes with the addition of compressed air.
Postcard of lampworker Pat Keeler in Hall of Science and Industry, 1951-1959. Collection of the Rakow Research Library, The Corning Museum of Glass, CMGL 107114.
Illustration of Tilley’s hydro-pneumatic blow-pipe, from Transactions of the Society, Instituted at London, for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, vol. 31, 1813.
Grace and John Deakin Flameworking, Robert H. Ford, August 26, 1946, Larry Williams Collection. Collection of the Rakow Research Library, The Corning Museum of Glass, CMGL 152152.
Mr. Hermann demonstrates flameworking. The wheel on the left is for spinning glass fibers. Curiosity Highly Gratified Mr. Hermann, Artist in Glass. Hull, England: T. Topping, 1814. Collection of the Rakow Research Library, The Corning Museum of Glass, CMGL 112177.
