Crystal manufacture

Blažek Glass Co,is very particular about quality of their products and still uses traditional procedures. The basic techniques of manual crystal decoration are as follows:

• manual painting and pen drawing
• crystal edging
• crystal engraving
• crystal cutting
• grinding

Manual painting and pen drawing - the painter decorates glass in free hand according to a model or customer´s requirements.

Glass edging – it is manual grinding of crystal on a horizontal wheel – it is used mostly for levelling the bottom or edges but also for decorating crystal where the surfaces should be flat.

Glass engraving is one of the most challenging art techniques – the engraver is in fact a sculptor who creates bas-relief into crystal very often on the basis of his/her own invention..

Glass cutting is crystal grinding in free hand, nowadays it is used only rarely due to high time requirements and demands on the crystal cutter´s craftsmanship..

Grinding is a traditional method of crystal decoration, especially of lead crystal, i. e. crystal containing certain percentage of lead oxide. Glass can be better worked owing to lead fixed in it and it is also better polishable. The final effect is then a typical lustre of ground crystal.