Okay, I've been looking around for the answer to this for a long while. I basically want to know where to find natural sources of glass to be used in glass blowing as making things out of glass has been around since BC times. I keep finding stuff about obsidian being a glass (and that coming from volcanic eruptions). I also found that I want to say it is Digby Beach in Nova Scotia has sea glass but I have no idea if sea glass can be used in glass blowing (because it would make for pretty colors). So yeah, if anyone has tips on where to look and what I can check out (cause I already did wikipedia and it is no help). So yeah, I don't want to know about man made glasses (unless it is a combination of things that logically a luperci can make) but want to know where I can find some natural glass that can be used in glass blowing.
Ooo... Mel has the answers? Yeah, I found a bunch on the history of it but not where the glass that was used was found. So yeah, it bugs me because I know it is plausible but I can't find the location of the components used for it. I just recently found something about heating sand (silica) and then something about soda lime (from limestone). Heh, I've spent days looking for this stuff just because I know it can be done but have to figure out if the materials are available in Nova Scotia or not.
I found something that said it was only 600 C that was needed. And there most be a forge somewhere... or someone capable because there have been metalsmiths within 'Souls. You would need that is you are crafting swords, as well as an anvil.
I think it also depends on your composition of glass too because there is more than one composition given the use for it. But honestly, if they could do it in BC times before there was technology then there has to be a way to make it work. After all they were limited in what they had as would be the same now. So there has to be a way to do it and I will have to continue looking around to figure out exactly how they did it.
My library doesn't have anything. I have a small library that isn't good for research. Now if you want kid books then you can find those. It is why I depend on the internet so much. Small towns suck overall. I'd have to buy stuff online in order to get books. I don't really even have a bookstore... the one that is an actual bookstore is small and is namely focused on kid/teen fiction and the other is dependent on what old books people drop off to be resold. Makes me sad because I can't even get Misery by Stephen King here.
It makes me wish I can get up to Williamsburg as it features a Colonial town where they do glass blowing so they would be lacking in modern techniques in that era as well.
If you wait long enough most ren faires have a glassblowing demonstration and you can ask questions then. Or, if you don't want to wait six months to a year why don't you try googling old fashioned glass blowers and the call/email them with questions. You can say your doing research for a project and I'm sure they would be more than happy to help.
Most libraries also have lending programs with other libraries. It doesn't hurt to ask. I've had books sent in from other libraries in the state before when I couldn't find the book I needed at my local library.
I don't have any ren. fairs near where I live and don't have the ability to travel to attend one either. Again, the woes of a small town. Also they have a lending program but only with the libraries located at the beach and they don't have anything either. I've already looked it up. But yeah, I planned on checking up on Colonial Williamsburg and see if they have some sort of information online about their glass blowing technique. I don't remember them having all the equipment that Mel linked when I went. It was just this guy sitting around on a stool and well, blowing glass. He had heated the glass some way... I didn't get to see the start of it but when I got there he was just blowing the heated glass with a tube and he made such amazing things. Cute lil animals and all. But yeah, I wasn't so worried about technique as I was trying to figure out where to find natural glass to be used for such purposes. After all, before the blowing was introduced, the Ancients heated up glass and formed it around molds made of clay and dung in which to craft things, the general necessities like bowls and cups rather than frivolities. So yeah, I was having trouble finding out where to find glass in its natural form and have recently found out that its heated sand basically and some with limestone dust added in.
Thanks for that, it is closer to what I had in mind. Minimal tools and stuff without all of the fancy equipment. I knew there had to be something somewhere where you don't need a bunch of machinery seeing as that wasn't available in ancient times and glass blowing has been around for thousands of years.
As far as obtaining glass itself, wouldn't it be possible to re-use already made/formed glass objects? I wouldn't think that melting down pre-insisting glass would require higher temperatures than making it from natural compounds. Though I must admit I would prefer the idea of making it from natural components myself.
I actually never gave any thought to that. I'm not sure if pre-existing glass can be recycled or not. I do know that the components in glass differ depending on the use of it because they add things to it and such. But I'm not certain if that would make a difference when trying to reuse it and turn it into something else. I will have to try and look into it.
