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U is For Uroboros Glass

[Sadly, this company closed down, but the glass is now being made by Oceanside Glass & Tile] Uroboros Glass, founded in 1973 by glass artist Eric Lovell, is based in Portland, OR, and turns ordinary sand into extraordinary art.  Here is how Lovell describes the origin of the name Uroboros:

Uroboros is an alchemist’s term often represented by a dragon symbolizing the cyclical Nature of the Universe. The uroboros has its tail in its mouth creating a circle of renewal or life everlasting. Our name honors the traditions and lore of medieval alchemists as they struggled to turn non-precious lead into precious gold. Today, we use non-precious sand to make some of the most precious hand-cast art glass available in the world.

I love using art glass in my mosaics, with the unusual textures and colors, never two sheets exactly the same, and traces of the creator, a kind of fingerprint.  Sometimes what might not work for Stratoz in his stained glass projects will look marvelous in mosaic and vice versa, and even within one sheet, there are enough variations to keep us always interested.

Here’s a cool video of the hand blown, hand rolled process of making art glass:

 

5 comments

  1. Lynn Lunger says:

    Very cool video! I’m amazed how the molten glass looks like taffy. It is so neat to watch it being manipulated and I’m curious why it doesn’t stick to the ladles or metal plates?

  2. Arlee Bird says:

    I have visited a few glassworks and it is an amazing process to watch. Stained glass is so beautiful.
    Hope you join us in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge Reflections Mega Post on Monday May 2nd.
    Lee

  3. Great question! From what I can tell, the ladle is kept cool in a bucket of water, and as long as it’s cool, the molecules of the metal aren’t inclined to mix it up with the glass molecules–but if the ladle gets too hot, they bond permanently!

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