Other Techniques - Hollow blown

Blown Glass Pear New England Glass Company circa 1852-1880

Hollow-blown Glass

The glassblower takes a gather of glass onto a hollow pontil tube. A skilled glassblower is able to create subtly shaded pinks and yellows on apples and pears. He carefully blows air into the glass as he rolls and shapes it. After it achieves the desired shape, he cuts it off the pontil and, as in the case of the hollow blown fruit weights, places it on a preheated, preformed base. Glass can also be blown into molds to form the shapes. As in the collection' s marbrie weight, the gather can be covered with canes to be blown into, for example, a symmetrical set of swirls. Other paperweight designs, such as crowns and lampworked flowers sometimes have hollow blown centers.p