Vigo County Historical Society
Historical Treasure Article
Historic Treasure of the Week -
December 11, 1983
By Georgia Jones
Vigo County Historical Society
Glass blowers made early ornaments
These ornaments from the collection in the museum are examples of early hand-blown ornaments imported from German in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
The glass blower would sit many hours each day perched on a high stool, bent over the Bunsen burner with a flame hot enough to melt glass. He would dip the end of a blowing rod into the molten class and blow each ornament to the desired size--leaving a long pike with a hook on top of each so that could be hung to dry.
Behind him and as far from the Bunsen burner as possible, were the drums of lacquer and a hot pot of silvering solution.
The job of silvering the inside of the ornaments belonged to the glass blower’s wife. She filled each ornament one-quarter full and shook it--dipping it several times in hot water to keep the solution liquid. Many women developed a method of holding several ornaments in one hand by slipping the pikes between their fingers, but this was the only shortcut possible. Uneven silvering showed even after the ornament had been lacquered and wholesales refused to buy them.
After the coating was complete, the excess solution was poured out into a basin to be chemically treated and used again. The ornaments were then hung up over nails protruding from boards to dry.
All members of the family helped paint the trimmings on the ornaments. The oldest child was entrusted with scoring the pikes so they would break off easily and cleanly. The youngest child was given the job of putting the metal caps on.
Working eight to 10 hours a day, six days a week, a family could make from 300 to 600 ornaments a week.
By 1890 glassblowers had perfected the use of molds for their work. After heating the end of a glass rod he blew a bubble a little smaller then the finished ornament. Quickly he placed the hot bubble in the bottom half of the mold and closed the top leaving only the blowing end of the tube protruding from the hole left for it. Working quickly before the glass cooled, he blew into the mold expanding the glass bubble to fill the mold. After a few seconds he opened the mold and a shape emerged.
Mrs. F.W. Woolworth was one of the first to import the ornaments into the United States.
The Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley, 1411 S. Sixth St., is open from 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.