Zimax Tapered Glass Vases are Versatile and unique, lending itself to design both in and outside the vase. Its excellent structure provides shape and clarity that brings attention to the design. Finding beauty in the details of both big and small vases, some designers create sophisticated arrangements from the cultural and architectural references that come from their background and we help them find the right glass vases for their passion.

 Making Glass Vases have several techniques, the following is a brief introduction to a basic technique.

 Blowing:

 Glassblowing is entirely a matter of timing. It dose not require a great deal of “puff”, provided that the glass is at the right temperature. Blowing up a balloon can be much more exhausting. The color of the glass is a good indicator as to when to blow; generally when the initial bright orange glow has begun to fade and the “gob” is a beautiful rosy color. If it has lost its color altogether then it is probably too cold and too difficult, perhaps even impossible, to blow at all without considerable reheating. If it is too hot then it will be hard to control and will blow out unevenly. A gentle steady blow should be enough to introduce the air bubble into the “gob”. Another method is to seal the mouthpiece of the pipe with the thumb immediately after blowing; as the trapped air is heated it expands forming a bubble within the gather. Now termed the parison, the shaped glass should be allowed to cool and consequently stiffen to some extend before more glass is gathered, otherwise it may collapse.

 Keeping the parison “on Center” is basically similar to centering clay in pottery-in that centrifugal force or gravity pulls the form off center. In glass making gravity is put to work. The speed at which the pipe is rotated is adjusted to correspond with the rate of sag so that in effect the glass continuously falls on-center.

 Necking or cutting-in:

 The neck of the parison is gently squeezed between the arms of the pucellas (tongs) or “jacks” as it is being rotated. This creates a groove at the point. Just off the end of the blowing iron where it is desired to “crack off “ the glass vases.

 Shaping:

 Shaping can be achieved in a variety of ways through a combination of gathering, marvering, blocking, blowing, swinging (the parison being held vertically so that the weight of the glass stretches the form), paddling (part of the form are flattened with a bat-like tool), cutting in with the pucellas or “jacks”, applying hot glass “bits” or taking small windows gathers onto the surface to be manipulated with, say, tweezers or shears, or blown out. Moulds are sometimes used to provide certain basic shapes. The bottoms of forms are normally flattened with the paddle or pucellas, or made concave with a dimple or “kick”, as in wine bottle, to take the pontil or punty. During all these procedures it is essential to keep the parison at the correct working temperature. It can be reached in the gloryhole or allowed to cool as necessary. If it is too hot it may blow out unevenly and if too cold it may crack or shatter, and perhaps drop, off the punty iron altogether. Some of the “best” pieces end up in the rubbish bin.

 In order to work on the neck, to finish a rim or to open up a cylinder or sphere to form a bowl or plate, the shaped piece must be transferred to the punty. A small gather is taken on a preheated punty iron, marvered and attached to the center of the base and the piece is then cracked off the blowing iron, with an opening that can be reheated to a workable state. The piece, now reversed, is returned to the gloryhole first, to “warm in” gently. Again timing and, of course, the temperature of both the piece and the punty are critical.

 The neck or rim can be finished as desired by the use of finishing jacks (sometimes with fruitwood or paper dowels) to open or close the form. On completion a sharp tap to the punty iron close to the piece should be enough o release it for transfer into the annealing oven.

 Finishing:

 When the glass vases have cooled it may require embellishment, or finishing. Some makers like to preserve the puntymark as a sign of authentic hand working, while others prefer to grind and polish it out using flatbed or punty wheel grinder.