The Craft of Lampworking
Lampworking is the ancient art of using a flame to shape glass. Early lampworking was done in the flame of an oil lamp, with the artist blowing air into the flame through a pipe. That fact alone amazes me. Today most artists ues torches fueled by propane or natural gas, mixed with pure oxygen, which is how I work.

Although the art form has been practiced since ancient times, it flowered in Murano, Italy in the 1300s, and spread from there to the rest of Europe. In the 1850's lampwork incorporated into glass domed paperweights, primarily in France, became a popular art form, still collected today.

It was not until the late 1960 that lampwork became recognized as a serious art form by German born lampwork glass artist Hans Godo Frabel who utilized his scientific glassblowing training to create relatively large pieces of lampwork glass art in borosilicate.