No one knows exactly when or where glass was first made. Archaeologists believe glass appears to have been produced as far back as the second millennium BC by the Egyptians. Glass was a lot less common and considered very precious back then than it is today. Glassmaking was the first industry set up in America at Jamestown, Virginia in 1608. In fact Captain John Smith and his Englishmen were responsible for the first glass factory in the New Land. Along with other raw materials, the basic components used to make glass are silica derived from sand, flint and quartz. Once all the materials are combined, they are heated at very high temperatures.

Glass is produced in various shapes, sizes and colors. It may be decorated in a number of ways, including cutting, molding, engraving, and etching. In the 19th Century, glassmaking was influenced by rapid advances in technology and the rediscovery of older methods. Mechanical pressing, introduced in the United States, was a cheap, fast means of production. With the scarcity of materials and few crafters, the depression of the 1930s and 1940s diminished the amount of glassmaking in the United States. This exhibit features a variety of glass, including hand-blown, cut and pressed pieces.

The earliest method of making glass was to blow the glass. The materials used to make glass are mixed together to form a batch. The batch was then melted in clay pots, heated by wood or coal furnaces to form what is called molten glass, or metal. After the batch was melted it was then blown through a blowpipe to form a ball, much like a child blowing a piece of bubblegum. After doing this, the glass is then shaped.

Once the glass industry was started in America, one of the first products made were glass bottles. Glass bottles were blown by hand; the workman dipped a hollow iron pipe into a batch of hot glass, extracted a glob and expanded it with his own breath. There are various types of glass bottles such as medicine bottles, household bottles and baby bottles.

Glass comes in various colors and the color is determined by the contents found in the hot glass. Iron can produce a greenish color, iron and sulfur together can produce ambers and brown, copper can produce light blues, cobalt produces dark blue, tin turns glass white and gold produces red. Uranium is an element used in glass to make a blue-yellow color. When the glass is reheated it becomes a two-tone color.

Cut glass has been around since ancient times. The English started cutting glass about 1715 and it began to gain fame by 1760. By the 1800’s, many American factories were making cut glassware for table use. The cut patterns resembled the English or Irish glass of the day and there were few characteristics or designs. The single star and panel curves were the most popular designs and ruby red and dark blue were popular colors.

Between the periods of 1880-1905 was when the most elaborate cut ware became available. During that time, newlyweds were given very expensive cut glass bowls and pitchers, instead of silver. This was a time when water tumblers, dishes, goblets and many more serving pieces were made.

People have trouble distinguishing cut glass from pressed glass. Cut glass has very sharp edges, while the pressed glass will be round and smooth. Cut glass is also very heavy and sparkles. If you tap your finger on a piece of pressed glass it will sound very dull and flat, however, if you do the same with cut glass, it will ring with a clear tone.