The art of making glass paperweights has been handed down by glass smiths for hundreds of turns. Until recently, however, the use of the glass in glass technique has been relatively forgotten due to unpopularity. Now, however, through a few artisans who have become experts on the process, and have passed the techniques and passion for this type of artistry onto me, I hope to help the production of glass in glass items to make a come back. In this scroll I will explain the process of making paperweights, the most popular form of glass in glass artistry.

 To make glass paperweights, you must start out with the basic ingredients. Mainly, those of any glass item: inorganic salts such as soda and potash (potassium nitrate), and lots of sea sand. Sometimes, lead can also be added to make a heavier, more brilliant glass. The above ingredients are than placed in a "refractory pot", a fireproof pot of clay, that can withstand the excessive temperatures (more than 2600 degrees fahrenheit) needed to make a viable batch of glass. As it is "boiling", the mixture is stirred to eliminate imperfections and make the glass more homogenous. After it is done, it is in a red hot liquid form, which can be shaped and manipulated as it cools, into the desired designs, using an array of special tools. These tools include: pontil rods (rods of iron used to hold molten glass), blocks (curved wooden paddles used to shape the domes of paperweights), torch (flame used to make lampwork designs), marvers (smooth, flat iron surfaces on which molten glass at the end of a pontil rod is rolle, molds (precast iron forms of different designs and shapes in which molten glass is pressed to create cane designs), shears (scissors-like instrument used to cut malleable glass), and templates (small cast iron disc's on which the motif is carefully arranged before being picked up).

 The next step is to design the paperweight motif, which is either inserted in blown glass, or arranged in a template and picked up by a blob of molten glass. The motif can be several things. It can be a design of millefiori canes (cross sections of molded glass rods of various sizeds and colors used in paperweights), lampwork (manipulation of glass with a small flame to create flowers and animals, etc...), Lace (white or colored glass threads spiraled around a clear rod, uniformly chaotic)), or any combination of the three, as well as latticinio (a lacy backdrop of white and clear glass, in a basketweave pattern) and torsade (a twisted opaque glass thread loosely wound around a lace core). With the above techniques, a unique and beautiful paperweight can be created. How this is done is explained in the next paragraph.

 To actually make the paperweight, it is possible to go two different ways. The first is the pick up method. This is usually the method used when working with Millefiori canes. First, the canes are arranged according to the artists conception of motif in a template and heated to just below melting point to avoid cracking when hot glass is added. A metal collare is palce around the arrangement to hold it in place. A small ball of molten glass, called a gather, is than collected on the end of a pontil, and rolled and worked into shape on the marver. The molten glass is than lowered into the collar to pick up the preheated design, forming the base of the paperweight. (Note that the template is held in the collar designdown). After the template has been picked up, more molten glass is added, shaped by a block as it builds up, creating the dome of the weight, after the first gather is reheated in a glory hole (small hole in a furnace to allow a pontil rod and template through), and more gathers of molten glass arehan added to form the dome of the weight, until the desired size and magnification is aquired, After the weight has been made to specifiactions, it is allowed to cool. As it is cooling, it is rolled back and forth on the pontil across the arms of a glassworking chair so that the still soft, cooling glass retains the desired shap without sagging. A wet block is used to help keep the glass in the desired shape. Tongs are also used at this point to to create a slender neck at the base of the weight, and when the glass has cooled significantly, the pontil rod is tapped gently, and the weight falls off into a bed of sand. To complete the weight, it is cooled the rest of the way in an annealing oven (oven that gradually cools an object to allow even cooling and guard against cracking). This is the trickiest part of the process, as the design and weight can cool at different rates, causing a piece to shatter and crack. The only thing left to do after the weight is cooled is to grind and polish the weight, using a grinding wheel. It is here that the pontil scar (mark left by the pontil after the weight is broken off) is removed, and facets (flat or concave cuttings of the domed surface of a weight) can be added, to the top, sides, or both.

 Now that the process of making the weight has been explained, I will attempt to explain the creation of the design elements, starting with the millefiori. Millefiori are canes of glass that have been pressed in iron molds of differing shapes, sizes and designs. To make them, a gather of molten glass is rolled on a marver until it forms a rod. Than, if desired, color is added by rolling the glass in glass powders. It is than pressed into an iron mold and allowed to cool. The same piece is again worked on the marver after another gather of molten glass is added, and the process is repeated, using different colors and different shaped molds, until several layers have
been built up, creating a design. At this stage, the cane is too big, about 3 centimeters in diameter, whereas to be used, it needs to be pencil thin. To do this, the cane is reheated, and another pontil rod is added to the other end. When this is done, the cane is stretched between two people, causing the cane to elongate and become thinner, although the design stays intact, but is miniaturized. Only a small portion of the cane is stretched evenly enough to be used. This section is sliced into tiny pieces that become the canes within a paperweight. More complex canes can be made by putting several canes together in a bundle, fusing them together, and than stretching them several times, until the separate canes meld together, creating one, usually with a flower like design, with a central rod, and five to six outer ones as the petals. Millefiori can than be arranged on the template in tightly packed designs, chains, or random (messy) patterns. Millefiori are the most popular type of paperweight.

 Another popular type of paperweight is that made with lampwork designs. Lampwork is the manipulation of glass by using a very hot, small flame to bend and shape the glass into objects; mainly, flowers and animals. To do this, rods of colored glass are heated, than pressed and shaped into the desired forms, the glass easily malleable, because it is held above the flame while this is being done. The intricacies of lampwork are breathtaking in the detail to be found. The more popular motifs are those depicting flowers and fruit, and underwater scenes, and the lampwork, if done well, can look almost lifelike. It should be noted that lampwork motifs are usually encased in hollow weights (blown weight with a central hollow air bubble surrounded by glass), as are weights using the torsade and lace designs, instead of the capture method used for millefiori described previously. It should also be noted that any combination of the above techniques are allowed. It is up to the artist to decide how complex the weight's design will be.
 To finish, not every paperweight is of a domed shape, with a flat bottom. Some are footed, having a pedastal, and some are in the shapes of baskets, or hearts, etc...basically, whatever shape the artist wants, even vases, lamps, perfume bottles and pendants have been made using the paperweight techniques. As well, the weights and other items are not always clear. A technique called overlay (a method in which a paperweight has been coated in one, two or three layers of colored glass), than faceted to provide windows through the color to view the inner design. Outer designs, such as crisscrosses, or swirls can also be done with engraving tools, either cutting through all layers of the colored glass, or just the top ones, so that the different colors show through. The entire weight is than encased in clear glass to protect the overlay. In all, paperweights and other glass in glass objects are time consuming, and take practice and knowledge to create, but the end results are worth the effort involved.

 The above text was made possible by the reading of the book "All about Paperweight" by Lawrence H. Selman, and through perusal of an article entitled "Glass Novelties in the Paperweight Tradition" by Richard V. Simpson in Antiques & Collectors magazine.