Spoon

The spoon begins with a very small gather of glass on the end of a metal blowpipe.  This will be the bowl of the spoon, and as we’ll see, the bubble becomes double thickness, so the initial bubble must be very thin.  After the bubble is formed, a constriction or neck is made between the bubble and the blowpipe.  Eventually this will allow it to be broken free of the blowpipe.  The bubble is blown a little bigger and a little thinner.  The neck or constriction is refined to its final, very small diameter.  The bubble is held downward while reheating.  The bubble is flattened with two wet wood tools, and one side is cooled.  During the reheat, the side that wasn’t cooled sucks in more when air is withdrawn from the blowpipe.  This is broken free of the blowpipe and kept on hold in an annealing oven, held at about 1000 degrees.  The spoon is decorated with prunts that are covered with gold.  The stem is made.  A large gather of glass is given four dents.  Twisting and pulling creates the handle.  The glass is pulled and twisted to give it its final length and diameter.  A constriction is made near the gathering iron, excess glass is broken free, and the process of decorating the end of the handle is begun.  A tiny amount of glass is added, pressed flat, and a merese is formed.  More glass is added to the tip of the merese, and this will become a suspension loop.  The prunts are added.  A tiny amount of glass freshly gathered from the furnace is added, the excess glass cast free, and the gold-filled prunt tool is pushed onto the glass.  This is a raspberry-shaped prunt.  The top and bottom are pulled to give it the characteristic look that we see.  Two more prunts are added.  The outer half of the stem is resoftened and bent, as we see on the original.  The handle is transferred to the punty, broken free of its gathering iron, and a tiny amount of glass is added to its tip.  This is called a glue bit, and it’s used to pick up the cup of the spoon.  A decorative trail is added to the lower part of the bowl, flattened somewhat, and the final prunts are added.