This remarkable hand-blown glass platter is made in Lithuania by artist Algimantas Zilys. Zilys studied art glass in school and has been designing and creating glass art for decades. Thus, his work is a distinctive result of great experience and an awareness of European glass blowing tradition, which has a long history dating back to the Roman Empire in Syria in the first century BC.
Each of Zilys’ pieces are made completely by hand, including the glass and the colors, which he mixes from raw materials. Zilys requires three furnaces; the first holds the initial piece of molten glass, the second is used to reheat the glass in between steps, and the third is used to slowly cool the glass. In the first step Zilys dips a pre-heated blowpipe into the molten glass in the first furnace, gathering the glass like a hummingbird gathering honey from a flower. He then rolls the glass onto a thick, flat sheet of steel, forming a cool skin on the exterior of the molten glass, allowing it to be shaped. Air is then blown into the pipe, making the glass into a bubble of the desired shape and size, which is then further shaped using ladle-like wooden tools. Zilys takes flat pieces of wood to create the bottom, and tweezers to pull on the glass, creating details. He employs shears to make linear and diamond shaped cuts in the glass. Designs are applied by rolling the glass in powdered color which has been arranged in a pattern and then applying this glass to the original glass. Once the piece is finished Zilys places it into the third furnace, also called the annealer, for a period of a few hours to a few days. This enables the glass to cool slowly enough to prevent cracking from thermal stress. Once the glass is completely cool, Zilys inspects it for perfection in design, clarity and precision. Once he has approved it, he carefully polishes it, signs it and sends his exceptional piece out to the world. No two of his pieces are ever exactly the same, as slight variations in color, size and shape are inherent in the handmade nature of the art, ensuring that each piece is distinct and unmatched by any other.
Comes with wall/table stand.
Only available in gallery. Not available for shipping.
