The chief ingredients of LSA glass are high quality sand, soda ash and lime.

LSA glass is made with hand production techniques that have been used for hundreds of years – including gathering glass with a metal pipe, blowing it into a mould and using wooden tools for shaping and finishing.

The raw materials of glass are heated in furnaces to 1470 degrees Celsius, the resulting molten glass having the consistency of thick treacle.

For each piece of glass, the glass blower gathers molten glass from the furnace by hand on the end of a long hollow metal blow-pipe, then blows into it to create a bubble of glass.

The glass blower then places the gather of glass in a mould and blows into the pipe so that the bubble of glass expands and presses on the interior wall of the mould, the glass bubble taking on the shape of the mould; thus the glass is ‘mouth blown’.

During this process, which takes a different length of time depending on the size of the piece, the glass cools enough to solidify and can be extracted from the mould with out the shape distorting.

Handles are added to jugs and stems and feet to wine glasses when the glass has just been extracted from the mould and is still hot.

The finished piece is then cooled gradually and in a controlled manner in an annealing chamber after which any ‘cold’ finishing is done.

The number of people needed to make a piece of glass varies according to the complexity of the item; all work is done swiftly with the team working in close cooperation.

The basic team needed to make a simple piece, such as a plain vase or tumbler, consists of a glass blower and two or three ancillary workers.

To make a jug, the glass blower works with another artisan who cuts the rim by hand with metal scissors and applies the handle by hand. This team also has two or three ancillary staff.

For a wine glass, one blower is needed to blow the bowl and another worker to add the stem and foot by hand, supported by the ancillary workers.

If colour is incorporated in a piece, a second glass blower is included in the team.

The time it takes from start to finish varies from piece to piece, depending on the complexity of a design, size, etc. The actual process of mouth blowing is quite swift as the glass cools and solidifies quickly in the mould.

To add colour to handmade glass LSA normally uses a hand production technique called ‘casing’ where firstly a layer of molten coloured glass is gathered by hand, followed by a layer of clear glass, the coloured glass thus being encased in the clear layer.

On occasions a design calls for the layer of coloured glass to be the final outer layer. We call this ‘overlaying’ to distinguish it from casing.

The colour in cased and overlaid glass is actually in the glass itself and is therefore indelible.

More than one layer of colour may be used in making a piece of glass and LSA uses this multi-layered technique in some vases.

To attain specific design effects (normally metallic or lustre effects) some LSA glass is painted by hand on the surface of the glass. The painted glass is then fired in an oven so that the paint adheres to the glass’s surface.

Being fused to the surface of the glass, the painted colour is not indelible but, treated with care, hand painted glass may be long-lasting.

We recommend that our glass is hand washed with care in warm soapy water, avoiding the use of any abrasive materials or cloths that may cause the surface of the glass to be scratched. This is particularly important with hand painted glass, as scratching may cause the painted surface to deteriorate.

If LSA glass is cleaned in automatic dishwashers, as with most other domestic glass, in time the surface of the glass may cloud.

With some designs there is more of a risk of rims chipping if washed in an automatic dishwasher. For example, heavy bases may have an impact on rims when upturned.

An apprentice glass blower may learn the rudiments of glass blowing over two to three years. A further two years would be needed to become an expert glass blower.

No – LSA glass is not heatproof and therefore should not be used in any kind of oven or with hot liquids.

LSA handmade glass is made in Poland.