The glass appeared, in a potted form, in Neolithic Egypt in the Badari civilization; in the 5th century BC. The knowledge of the glass industry may have come from the Near East; it first appeared in Egypt, around the 18th Dynasty (around 1550-1292 BC). Most of the early glass pieces were beads. The acquisition of glass products in the modern state was a kind of luxury; it was made in the form of flowers, and was decorated with furniture and wall decorations.
The melting temperature of silica was higher than that of old industries. But adding alkali, such as soda and potash, lowers the melting temperature. The lime was added; to fix the mixture. For the raw glass industry, the ancient Egyptians grinded the material into a fine powder as high as possible; before heating it. The old glass was colored by adding pigments; such as copper and iron compounds, to raw glass - to obtain a greenish blue; and copper oxides to get red or orange, and cobalt compounds to get dark blue.
The most common method for making glass in the modern state was to form a heart or a pulp of mud mixed with dung or plant material, in the form of the inner part of the vessel. Then dip the heart into the molten glass; or pour molten glass over it. The piece is then rolled onto a smooth surface to become smooth; the mud mixture is then removed into the piece after it has cooled. The use of molds was also a method of forming glass; in it melted glass was poured into a mold, or the ground glass was heated inside a mold. The glass blocks were cut cold, just as the stone blocks were cut when formed; but that method was very difficult, it was not common.
In the Ptolemaic period, glass was spread in Egypt for daily use; in flat and deep dishes, utensils, cups, lamps, necklaces, and in jewelry or mirrors. In the Roman era, around the third century AD, the ceramic pots were developed with a shiny layer. Copper and silver alloys were added to the paints that were painted by the glass. The dyes were merged into the glass; they gave a dull or dull color; depending on the temperature of the burn. Glass vessels made of molds began to appear; by the Byzantine era.
After the opening of Amr ibn al-Aas to Egypt, the Arabs worked on the development of the glass industry and the creation of many tools and methods that were not used in previous eras. In glass-blowing, the use of the "puntel", a rod that holds the pot's bottom, became popular in that era. The wooden blocks were among the other tools used to blow glass, to form molten glass in the shape of a ball before blowing it; and the rotors to form the mouth of the container and scissors, to trim the excess glass during blowing. In the production of the glass of that era, two types of molds were used; two parts were separated; the model was sculpted internally - usually in geometric and vegetal forms; the other was a dipping mold, where the glass was blown inside - and then completed externally, making the shape less distinctive.
The glass of this era is characterized by complex carvings, combined with Quranic verses and other writings; Several methods were used in glass decoration, including the hot way the vessel was engraved while still warm. The tails of hot glass were poured into the vessel for decoration in a spiral, or the vessel was labeled with a model engraved on a hot mixer. The tails of the glass were combed with a serrated tool; in wavy, curved or in rings. The blown glass was also decorated with cutting, which included scraper drilling, surface cutting, cutting and glazing. The colored glass was painted with pigments containing silver and copper and then protected in the fire; to melt colors in the glass. To paint the glass with enamels or gold, the glass and gold powders were placed on the surface of the pre-formed container and then protected in the fire.

Tags: Industry
Skip to main content