Topic: Need help with terminology on diverse ”moulding”

[Paul S.]

In your final paragraph Kerstin, you are correct, and the method I mentioned is in fact press moulding, whereas the process you are discussing is 'mould-blown'.

your use of the word 'parison/paraison' is correct for the initial blob/gob of molten glass on the end of the blowing iron, which is taken from the furnace and then rolled on a warm marver - the steel surface which helps to provide the initial rough outline of shape, on which the worker marvers the molten glass.            However, in English the word is now viewed as possibly archaic, and 'gather' is of more modern usage than parison.

Believe the gaffer is the head man who sits in the chair - likely the most skilled of the workers in the glass house.       As with many other instances of mis-appropriation of trade words, in English the word 'gaffer' has come to mean the person in charge in most industrial organizations, whatever they are making.       In this instance he is probably the guy in the chair, rather than the guy holding the pontil rod.

Looking again at the video it does appear that the pucelas are used to flare the mouth of the vessel  -  the wooden pallet (wetted) looks to be used both to provide the indent on the base and to flatten/level the base of the vessel. 

have to say I'm rather ignorant of how the annealing set up in a small house might function - it may simply be a space allocated in the vicinity of the furnace which provides some gentle decrease of temperature over time.          Hope others will comment on this.

Otherwise you are probably now qualified to make a juice  -  perhaps you'll let have your first example

best of luck.

[KevinH]

Not sure how helpful it could be, but Corning Museum of Glass have a good dictionary of glass making terms.

There is a pc version which has an example image for many entries. A downloadable PDF version also exists.

Click here for the pc version
Click here for the page with the pdf link

There is an alphabetic header at the top of each section for "A, B, C etc."

Example entries (blue italics for quoted sections) ...

Finishing
The process of completing the forming or decoration of an object. Finishing can take the form of manipulating the object into its final shape while it is hot, of cracking off before annealing, or of cutting, enameling, grinding, or polishing.

That defintion uses the term "manipulating" which is generally accurate for activities such as forming the neck or rim of a moulded item while still hot. Good use could be made of the CMoG dictionary to find words that could be better than the generalised ones such as "finishing" or "manipulating". Being American, the dictionary will probably favor (instead of favour" ) US terms.

What we really need, of course, is a "Thesaurus of Glass Making Terms"

[cagney]

Paul is for the most part correct in his presentation. Except that technically the gather becomes the parison after the first blow and expansion of the gather. After being removed from the mold it is no longer a parison, but a pre formed object.
In U.S.A. gaffer is used exclusively as to glassmaking.
The space in a small operation for annealing is called an annealing oven. Exactly what Paul describes.
The tool to open and shape the mouth is called a steel jack. In the old days [19th c.] it was called a wood jack, as at the ends were replaceable wooden rods. Wood was less liable to leave a mark on the glass.The link showing the making of a cream jug shows this tool more clearly.

The book "American Glass" by George S. and Helen McKearin copyright 1941, 1945 Crown publishers, New York. My copy is eleventh printing 1950. Republished in the 1990's
I believe. Some information out of date .mostly as to attribution of American glass to specific glassworks. Not to be confused with "Two Hundred Years Of American Glass".

[kerstinfroberg]

Thank you Cagney!
Found a reasonably priced copy from 1945 in the UK, and ordered it!

Kevin, thank you too - but the problem with single-language dictionaries is that one has to have at least an idea where to start...

An multi-language dictionary that I often use is http://www.idverre.net/eurodico/index.php which is sometimes hopeless, but at least has lots of special words listed.

[kerstinfroberg]

While waiting for the delivery of my new book (hope it will not get caught at the customs, now that UK is again a "foreign country") I have looked at the corning dictionary (https://www.cmog.org/research/glass-dictionary)

Quoting all of the "Mold" entry:
 Mold
A form used for shaping and/ or decorating molten glass. Some molds (e.g., dip molds) impart a pattern to the parison, which is then withdrawn, and blown and tooled to the desired shape and size; other molds (sometimes known as full-size molds) are used to give the object its final form, with or without decoration. Dip molds consist of a single part and are usually shaped like beakers. Full-size molds usually have two or more parts and can be opened to extract the object. Nowadays, most molds are made of metal, but stone, wood, plaster, and earthenware molds were used in the past and are still occasionally employed today.
(there is a picture, which I will not even try to copy, shows an open-top mould, probably with inside decoration)


 Mold blowing
Inflating a parison of hot glass in a mold. The glass is forced against the inner surfaces of the mold and assumes its shape, together with any decoration that it bears.
(this picture shows a dip mould, of the type I would call "optic")

Anyway - both these descriptions are for what I wanted to call "fixed mould blowing" when I started this thread.

Only it gives me a different problem, now, for what they are doing when they use the mould for a max-shiny surface and therefore turn the piece int the mould when blowing! And, at least in Sweden, this last is the normal way of using a mould.
Allow me to try to describe how the making of the (famous?) Vallien-designed service "Chateau" (which is nowadays manufactured in Kosta, but retaining the Orrefors label - in fact, it was never made in Orrefors...):
after the gather, and the first small blow (making the parison?) the parison id marvered.
It is then taken to a dip mould, where it is inflated a little more (but, obviously, not turned).
Next step is the final mould (open top) where thepiece is inflated to the final size *while turning*. Since this is done in an open-top mould there will be a moil (or overblow?).
The same worker has done all these steps. Now s/he hands over the pipe to the person operating the stem-drawing machine (introduced sometimes in the 1980-ies). The machine will automatically re-heat and draw the stem (which will have a small knob at the bottom).
The blow-pipe with the nearly-ready glass is now handed to the foot-maker, who holds it (the pipe and all) vertically, and, with the aid of a helper, attaches a small quantity of glass tot he bottom knob, and fashions it to a foot. S/he has a special tool for the foot.
The foot-maker then cracks off the blowpipe, and a taker-in(?) goes to the lehr.

(Unfortunately I can't find a video)
How does that sound?

- one reason I want to know this other mould-blowing term is that in Sweden it is important to distinguish between a "fixed" and a "turned" (normal?) process - and that is what I want to make tourists understand.

Kerstin in Sweden, hoping I am not boring you too much!

[cagney]

Sequence- gather, marver, parison.

The dip mould is for pattern, in this case the "chateau" pattern. I would guess flat panels. The second is for size and possibly shape. The process of expansion will soften the pattern. The turning  may smooth the pattern further and also swirl or bend the pattern in a certain direction.
The term "max shiny surface" while perfectly understandable English may not be the term your searching for. Generally a mold will not give more shine to the surface. Usually a "max shiny surface" will be obtained during the fire-polishing process. An open top mold for shape may be correctly termed a turn mold. this process generally will give blown glass a smooth/even surface. I do not think there is necessarily a specific term in glassmaking lexicon for this process. He/she is simply "working" the glass in the mold.

I believe moil is a general term for any left over glass from the making of an object. This would include glass glass left on the punty after the object is cracked off. Glass that has been sheared off, as well as blow-over/over-blow. Usually this glass is re-used as cullet in the next batch. Over-blow/blow-over may be a better term for your purposes.

In my previous post I stated that the term Gaffer was used exclusively as to glassmaking in the U.S.A. This was in error. It is also used in the motion picture industry to denote the chief electrician on a movie set. Usually pertaining to lighting.

[kerstinfroberg]

Yes, I do realize that "max shiny surface" is not a recognized technical term :-) - but, as we see it, that is the purpose for turning the piece in the wet mould - the steam and the turning together will acieve that. No fire-polishing is done, not for mould-blown-and-turned goods, anyway. (except for pontil scars)
In bigger places, like Kosta, there is nearly no hand-tooling (off-hand work?), so at Kosta no pontil scars these days.

I will remember over-blow - but, one more question (today, anyway...): if moil are all left-overs, even the glass from blow-pipes and pontils, then (as I understand it) it can't all be used as cullet? The ... ok, moil, from pipes and pontils will be contaminated with iron, I guess?

Thank you for helping me along! Glass English is so different from tourist English...
(should you ever have need for help in weaving English, I would be glad to help)

[cagney]

The term "max-shiny surface" is perfectly fine. Very descriptive.
Over-blow or blow-over truly conveys the exact same thing and either would be correct.
The contamination  issue of cullet is a very good point. Although small amount can be dealt with by using various de-colorizing ingredients.I assume there would be some sort of quality control involved. The definition in my previous post came from the book "AN ILLUSTRATED DICTIONARY OF GLASS" by Harold Newman copyright 1977 Thames and Hudson ltd, London. This practice maybe mostly confined to what we call "bottle glass" in U.S.A. The term in England I think is "common glass".

The updating of what are essentially 19th century glassmaking terms would not surprise at all.Especially in relation to certain locales and traditions. The specifics you mention about current practices in Sweden adds a lot to my knowledge. Thank you.