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- Crystal
cutting is a technique that takes five years to
perfect. There are three main styles of cutting.
Most of the differences between cuts are
associated with width and depth of the cutting
wheel.
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- Wedge
Cut
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- Most
common cutting technique. Wedge cut can be found
on almost every piece in the store. However, the
combination of this cut is what creates the
design.
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Crisscrossing created diamond like cuts. This is
a very attractive way to decorate crystal and
very demanding on the cutter. Diamond cutting
requires a great job by the crystal blower as
well. The piece has to be thick enough so the
crossings of the cuts do not cut through. It
also can not be too thick as the cuts will be
too far apart and will lose some of its
appeal.
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Vertical cuts are difficult because the cutters
hand has to be very steady. The thickness of the
piece here is not as important however, but the
clarity and perfection is required from the
blower. In most cases these pieces are not as
decorated and mistakes are very
obvious.
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Combination vertical and horizontal cuts (top of
the Overture pattern) requires steady hand and a
good eye. Please remember that when the pieces
are cut there is water constantly pouring down
the wheel which makes cut connections difficult.
The cutter has to "feel" how much to cut or they
will cross over each other.
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- Olive
Cut (thumb print)
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- Olive
cut is the most difficult because it relies
heavily on only one dimension and that is width.
Successful olive cutting will have a certain
predetermined width. However, if the piece is
not thick enough, the cut will go through to
achieve the width. On the other hand, if the
piece is too thick it will need to be deeper and
that takes a long time to cut and a very steady
hand. One move while cutting the olive cut and
the piece can easily break as this cut puts a
lot of strain on the crystal piece
itself.
- This
cut is usually cut vertically to circumcise the
piece (Colleen). If one of the cuts is not
exactly to proportions it will throw off the
entire design.
- The
olive cut is considered the most elite cutting
technique and only the most experienced cutters
can do it. The elements of it will be often
incorporated in some of the very special and
limited edition pieces.
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- Copper
wheel cutting
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- Not
used very much in many of new designs, still it
can be found on some pieces. It is a meticulous
job to create a diamond pattern with the copper
wheel as it leaves a very thin line. Copper
wheel cutting is usually very sharp to the feel.
The pieces that are decorated with copper wheel
cutting are the Apprentice Bowl and Maritana
Vase.
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- Polishing
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- After
the piece is cut is needs to be polished. After
the cutting, the cuts are frosted white and
polishing allows the piece to regain its clarity
and brilliance.
- The
polishing is done on the buffer wheels by hand.
Some of the lesser quality pieces are polished
by immersing them in the hydro-flouric acid.
- It
has been a trend recently to polish the edges of
the cuts very smoothly. Older glass pieces will
have very sharp edges partly because the
polishing technology at that time was not as
developed and polishing took a long
time.
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- Scalloped
Top
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- Scalloped
top of the pieces is cut by hand with several
different wedge wheels. If the piece is to have
a scalloped top or something more intricate like
the top on the''Kennedy Bowl'' we will use
a variety of different shaped wheels, eg.
''Wide'' Wedge Wheels, Wheels with raised curved
surfaces ( wide & narrow ), Wheels with Flat
surfaces etc. This is all done by hand by the
Wedge cutter.
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- Footed
Pieces
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- Footed
pieces are made of two pieces of crystal. All
stemware is made out of two pieces. Once the cup
and the stem have been blown, the blower still
keeps it on the top of his pipe and the
apprentice brings another blob of molten crystal
from the kiln. The blower than shapes the foot
of the piece with wet wooden tools. Doing it
with the stemware is relatively easy but when it
comes to 15 lb bowl it takes a lot of physical
strength to do it.
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- The
process of manufacturing a single stem from
start to finish can take as much as seven
days!
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