We use it everyday but do not think a lot what it is and how we can utilize it to make our home decor exceptional. Glass is delicate and edgy, functional and decorative, elegant and casual. It is a great gift idea for anyone.

Body: We use them every day. Glasses, vases, plates....They are usually made of glass, often painted in various colours or richly decorated. But...

What is "Glass"?

Don't be afraid. I will not provide you with a chemistry lesson. Nevertheless, I'm not a chemist but a person who is fascinated with the beauty and functionality of glass.

All of us are aware that glass as a final product is solid, typically brittle and often transparent. Before becoming a fragile vase or a piece on our dinner table, it is actually silicate sand melted with alcalic additives. In a little bit more complicated terms, glass is a silicon dioxide (70-75%) melted with sodium or potassium oxide in a temperature of 1300-1500 C. Another important compound which needs to be mentioned here is the calcium oxide which stabilizes the whole structure. The glass-forming liquid becomes actual glass when it is rapidly cooled.

Glass shows fascinating properties which change depending on its composition. Soda glass is soft and plastic. It slowly changes its structure when becoming solid so it can be shaped into various, often complicated forms. Potash glass is harder, and it was used for the greenish forest glass as well as for the crystal glass when the technology of cleaning and decolouring had been mastered.

As in this place we do not intend to analyze physics of glass, we want to refer you to the literature of glass making available in your local library.

Glass in Our Lives

The term "glass" originates from the Germanic word for transparent, lustrous substance. It was developed in the late Roman Empire, in the Roman glass-making centre located in Trier (today Germany).

I find glass to be fascinating. This material has a few thousand year-long tradition of making. Today, glass products are taken for granted-we use them on an everyday basis when serving food, decorating our homes or as purchasing them to make them gifts for our special ones.

It is impossible to mention all areas in which glass is used nowadays. My interests focus on glass as a gentle material which can be extravagantly used in home decoration. I'm talking here about unique glass pieces used as accessories or gifts, such as glass vases or decorative bowls. Contemporary glass artists and glass works create artistic vases, bowls or candle holders which bring to our homes distinctiveness in their functionality and decoration. Elaborate centerpieces can be used in a variety of ways and in various settings. Place it in direct sun or light, and you will create a rainbow of colours which will enlighten any, even the darkest, room.

However, it is easy to become deceived by cheap copies of so called "artistic" glass pieces. You can easily find glass pieces advertised as "Murano glass vases" or "Murano bowls" which are in fact not original products-they do not originate from Murano Island (Italy), represent lower quality and can be purchased for lower prices.

The same goes with the Bohemian pieces which are often manufactured on a massive scale in anywhere but not in the Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. Always check if your supplies can provide you with a certificate of authenticity of a product you are interested in. Only when buying original glass vases, centerpieces, bowls, etc. you will fully enjoy the beauty of this grateful material.