The sun powers our electric furnace and ovens. 20kW (72 Solar Panels) of sustainable energy.

The transformation of raw materials into glass takes place around 1200 °C. We spend a day loading the glass into the furnace with a combination of raw material and recycled clear glass. The glass is melted down and is ready to be worked with the following day.

The glass is now ready to be worked with at around 1100 °C. Using tools and techniques dating back to medieval times, we gather molten glass from the furnace. The glass is gathered using steel rods and pipes and can now be blown, shaped and formed.

Stainless steel tools and wet wooden blocks are used to shape and form the hot glass. Wet newspaper is also used in the hand to form the glass into its desired shape.

The glass will cool down to a solid state and once this happens we can now place the piece into an “annealing oven” which runs at 500 °C. If the glass cools to much it will crack so this is a critical point in the process. The glass will drop in temperature slowly over 30 hours ensuring it won’t crack or break.

The newly blown glass has now been emptied from the annealing oven and we cut and polish the areas that were “cracked off” from the steel blow pipes. Using a large grinding wheel and magnetic diamond discs we can work to achieve the desired finish.