Flameworking (sometimes called "lampworking") is the process of directing a flame onto a piece of glass in order to create form or decoration. Beads were likely among the first glass objects to be made by flameworking.

Listen as curator David Whitehouse describes this display, telling the story of two remarkable lampworkers, Leopold Blaschka and his son Rudolf, who created in glass thousands of models of invertebrates, animals without backbones, as well as flowers and plants. The father began the business of

Listen as glass artist William Gudenrath describes flameworking (or lampworking), the technique used by the Blaschkas to create the objects in this case at the Museum. The display tells the story of two remarkable lampworkers, Leopold Blaschka and his son Rudolf, who created in glass thousands of

The Botanical Wonders exhibition celebrated the singular triumph of glassmakers Leopold Blaschka (1822-1895) and his son Rudolf (1857-1939) and offered close-ups of the people and the craft process behind the glass flowers. Video narrated by David Whitehouse.

Watch a functional, preserved 19th-century wooden lampworking table, complete with a leather bellows, in action. The Museum’s wooden table is equipped with a foot-operated bellows that acts as an air compressor, pushing air through two hollowed out wooden pipes built into the table. The crossed

Who would have thought that a trip up a goat path would lead to the Museum’s acquisition of a 19th-century lampworking table that was part of the 2007 Botanical Wonders exhibition? In October 2006, Steve Gibbs, the Museum’s manager of events marketing, embarked on a mission to find a lampworking

Today lampworkers %%melt%% borosilicate glass in brilliant colors using modern torches that burn oxygen and propane. But how did glassworkers %%melt%% glass at the flame 300 years ago? As a glass librarian and a glass artist, I'm fascinated by the ingenuity and inventiveness of lampworkers in