If you're a glass enthusiast, then you can probably agree that using light to display glass works of art is as natural as combining peanut butter and jelly to make the perfect sandwich. While observing some advanced glass blowing students and beginning glass students on one of their critique days, I noticed that that a few of them liked incorporating light with their glass projects.

For the beginning students who poured glass into damp sand, the look of light projecting through textures created from the damp sand illuminated the glass, showing every corner and surface detail that would be difficult to catch with the naked eye. As for the advanced glass blowing students who made smooth bauble like sculptures out of glass and air, they enjoyed how lights would cast an emanating, almost ethereal like glow across their pieces. Some used neon tubes and incorporated them into their glass pieces while others used simple incandescent light bulbs to tell a story between two elements. Overall, each student learned that with lighting they could explain the true meaning behind their glass projects on a different level than without lighting.

What makes adding light to glass so interesting is the way the light bends. Acting as a prism, glass can create special and unique effects and since it's always in a state of motion, no two lighting effects will always look alike. Even avid glass collectors use lighting to showcase their glass pieces in addition to using mirrors so that collection can be appreciated from every angle and through every spectrum. Generally speaking, the simple combination of light with glass will create a magical look that adds both aesthetic and sometimes monetary value.

Spot lights, cannister lights, table lamps and even tables with built in lights make for great accent lighting pieces for your glass menagerie. But whether it's because light has that tendency to bend in interestingly unique ways, showing off different textures and angles, or even because it can create an amazing halo-like effect along the surface, it can be agreed that light and glass are two elements that work well together.