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Craftsmanship
A glassworks is geared towards continuous operation - because a glass furnace has to be operated continuously. That is why the glassmakers work in different shifts, 7 days a week, 53 weeks a year. With a common furnace, an average capacity of around 900 kg of glass is produced per day. This corresponds to approximately 200 tons of glass a year. The production of raw glassware takes place from 6 a.m. until 2 p.m. In the afternoon and overnight, new glass is melted down for the coming working day.
The production of our glasses comprises various work steps. You start by mixing different raw materials into a so-called batch. Quartz sand, soda, potash, lime and lead are mixed together. Around 30% old fragments are added to the batch to be melted again.
A so-called insertion machine transports the batch into the oven. There, the raw materials melt together at around 1400 ° C to form a uniform liquid. The melt itself runs in three phases. During the rough melting, the mixture melts into a homogeneous mass. Many gases are still contained in this mass. These are released during the purification phase, for which a special agent is used that binds and removes the gases. Once the raw glass mass has been freed from the gases, it flows through a small passage into the so-called work tub. There, the raw mass cools down to the working temperature of around 1200 ° C in the last step. The entire melting process takes around 6 to 7 hours.
The glasses of our chalice series from the Adels-Service, as well as from Maria Theresia-Service, consist of three parts: chalice, stem and foot. Each of these parts consists of a small portion of glass. The desired amount is taken out by the glassmakers, blown into shape and further processed. When each part is finished, the skilled workers melt it into a complete glass.
In the next step, the glass is cooled in the cooling track. This is necessary because a glass has different thermal gradients immediately after processing. These can create tensions in the object and this can burst. Controlled cooling balances the gradients and prevents the generation of stresses. The process takes approximately 4 hours.
Because of the informal blowing of the cup part, it has a so-called cap. It is cut off with the help of a diamond wheel. The resulting sharp edge is then ground. After this step, our glasses have their so-called raw shape.
Our products are refined and given their final shape through various processes, such as grinding and polishing. A grinder first draws the desired shape - for example the 8 corners of the chalice - on the object. With his tools, he then removes layer by layer of the glass until the corresponding shape has been created. The ground object now has a matt surface. That is why you polish it with a caustic acid. The object is placed in a drum that contains acid. It etches away the material from all areas of the glass until a smooth and clear surface is created. After the acid bath, the finished product is cleaned again.
The production of our electoral service differs from that of our other two glass lines. In this series you only blow the goblet and the foot into shape. If the chalice is blown, its bottom is melted again. A glassmaker sticks the typical bubbles into the liquefied glass. Then you melt some freshly taken glass. With a spatula, a glassmaker pulls the hot material to the desired length. The stem is now finished. Then you put your foot on it.
After cooling down, knocking off the cap, sanding the hard edge and acid polishing, apply the gold edge to our elector glass with a brush. The object is then heated again to approx. 510 ° C. Glass and gold melt together. After cleaning, the product is also finished.
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