Secrets of Tiffany Glassmaking Glass is "cooked sand" - a material that resutls from exposing sand to great heat. It can be formed naturally when a bolt of lightening strikes the beach, but with human intervention, glass becomes a magical substance. the ba - sic recipe for glass is always the same to the main ingredient of silaca (most commonly sand)artisans add soda or potash to control temperature and lime to give stability. amazingly, the exploitation of these three ele- ments knows no end. Certain chemicals produce color. Other techniques yield taxture, determine light transmission, and ensure durability. Thus glassmaking, over its five-thousand life, has become a major artistic as well as industrial medium capable of endless light and color effects. Luis comfort Tiffany, (1848-1933) began his work in glass with the same tools and ingredients that had been used by artisans for thousands of years before him. Tiffany took the science of glassmaking however, and elevated it to an art form fo the new brilliance and beuaaty. This exhibition illsutrates some of hte major processes that Tiffany adopted, adapted, created and developed to produce what many would say is the most wonderous art glasss of all time. To illustrator Tiffany, glassmaking methods, the installation features, mod- ern ingredients, tools, models, and objects alongside selected tiffamy ob- jects from the museums collection.
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