Press

Fremont Antique Glass, A Secret 30 Years In The Making

By Kirby Lindsay LaneyThe Fremont Centrist: January 17, 2011

Since 1980, the Fremont Antique Glass Company has kept alive an old-world tradition in glass manufacturing.  Tucked in a concrete warehouse that sits on the fringes of industrial, residential and commercial areas, the company creates hand-blown sheet glass.

Jim Flanagan runs the ‘factory’ where, with the help of four employees – Asim Kurjakovic, James Musco, Asmorom Tesfi, and Brad Mayoras – he continues a process replaced over a century ago by machine manufacturers and innovations in plate glass.  Yet, today, their high-quality ‘Fremont’ glass continues to be sought by stained glass artists and for building restoration projects. Read More

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Mouth Blown Glass

By:  
Milano Glassworks: October 1, 2017

When it comes to "antique" or "restoration" glasses in the United States, the one that has the largest footprint is cylinder blown glass. It can be referred to as antique blown glass, mouth blown glass, hand blown glass, but they are all describing the same historic process of glass manufacturing. This process of window glass manufacturing became prevalent in the 1800's and continues in limited production today.

In this type of glass the process is to draw or gather molten glass out of the glass furnace and form a molten blob of glass on the end of a blow pipe. Through a gradual process of adding air the bubble and reheating, turning and swinging the molten glass a cylindrical bubble is formed. During this phase different surface characteristics are introduced to the glass. These surface distortions can be in the form of various sized bubbles or "seeds" in the glass, striations or straw marks and other degrees of surface textures. Once the desired size and texture is achieved the glass is removed from the blow pipe and a glass cylinder or muff is then put into an oven for annealing, a process of gradual cooling. Read More