Looking into a glass background

No one knows exactly when or where glass was first made. Glass appears to have been produced as far back as the second millennium BC by the Egyptians & perhaps the Phoenicians. Evidently it originated in Mesopotamia, where pieces of well made glass have been found, believed to date from the third millennium BC.

Glass was a lot less common back then than it is today. It was very precious, and in the Bible glass has been compared to gold. (Job 28:17)
The art of glass making eventually reached Egypt. The Egyptians used a method called core-forming. A shaped core was made of clay and dung, then molten glass was wrapped around it and shaped by rolling it on a tool.

It was very much later, around the end of the 1st century BC, that a new method, glass blowing would revolutionize glass production. This art was probably discovered along the Eastern Mediterranean coast, probably in Syria. Blowing through a hollow tube, an experienced glassblower can quickly produce intricate and symmetrical shapes out of the “gather” of molten glass at the end of his tube (rod). Alternatively, he can blow the molten glass into a mold.
The glassblowing innovation, along with the backing of the powerful Roman Empire, made glass products more accessible to the common people. As the size of the Roman Empire increased, the art of glass making spread spread to many countries.

Glass Making in Europe.

After the decline of the Roman Empire in the 4th & 5th centuries AD, the craft of glass making waned in Europe. The industry continued to thrive in Iran, Iraq & Egypt.
In Europe, there was a limited revival of glass making in the early 12th Century, with the development of stained glass windows for cathedrals & monasteries.

A flourishing glass industry did not truly develop in Europe until the end of the 13th Century, when Venice became a major glass making center. They may have picked up their glass making techniques through their contacts with the near East countries during the Crusades. The Venetian provided the link between the ancient & modern glass making arts. Venetian glass was noted for its technically brilliant yet imaginative .

So by the 15th Century, Venice had become the major producer of glassware in Europe. So highly esteemed were the Venetian glass makers, that they were forbidden to leave the Island of Murano, lest their precious trade secrets be imparted to others.

However, it was to be another 2 centuries later that in 1676, an Englishman named George Ravenscroft made a discovery, that by adding lead to the glass that a far more brilliant sparkle was achieved.