Glossary of Commonly Used Paperweight Terms
Annealing Oven: An oven that gradually reduces the temperature of the finished weight to ensure even cooling and prevent cracking.
Aventurine: Glass with a sparkling appearance caused by the addition of metallic crystals to the melt.
Basal Rim: The ring around the bottom of a concave base where the paperweight comes into contact with the supporting surface.
Base: The bottom of a paperweight.
Basket: An outer row of millefiori canes, pulled together underneath the motif to form a staved enclosure for the decorative elements.
Batch: A mixture of sand, lead oxide, potash, and cullet within the melting pot.
Block (or Paddle): A curved wooden paddle used to shape the dome of a paperweight.
Blowtorch (or Lamp or Torch): A small gas burner or torch used to reheat hardened crystal rods for lampwork motifs.
Candy: Denotes a scrambled millefiori paperweight.
Cane (or Floret): A small piece of molded or bundled glass rod that has been pulled out so an intricate pattern appears in cross section.
Circlets: Small circles of millefiori canes.
Clear Ground: Clear glass used as a background for a paperweight design.
Clover Cut: Intersecting facets in surface cutting.
Collar: A metal ring used to surround the disc or template and to help center the motif being picked up by molten crystal.
Color Ground: Opaque or transparent colored glass used as a background for a paperweight motif.
Concentric Millefiori: Any spacing scheme in millefiori weights with concentric circles of canes placed around a central cane or cluster of canes.
Crown (or Dome): The glass above the motif in a paperweight.
Cullet: Small pieces of broken glass added to the batch.
Cutting: Grinding the surface of a paperweight for ornamentation.
Date Cane: A millefiori cane with numerals or a letter identifying the year or manufacturer.
Diamond Cut: A many-faceted cutting pattern used to decorate the outside of a weight, usually the base.
Facet (or Printy or Punty): The flat or concave surface formed when the side or top of a paperweight is shaped with a grinding wheel. Printy usually refers to a concave facet.
Flash: A thin coating of transparent colored glass applied to the base of a paperweight; applied to the entire weight in the case of flash overlay.
Fluting: A pattern of deep, narrow groves usually cut vertically on the outside of a paperweight.
Furnace: A tank fabricated for melting the glass batch.
Gaffer: A skilled craftsman, a master glassworker.
Garland: Any spacing scheme using one or more chains of millefiori canes in an undulating pattern.
Gather: Molten glass collected on the end of a pontil rod.
Glory Hole: Entry to a unit with an intensely hot flame used for reheating glass.
Grid Cutting: A set of shallow narrow groves cut into the base of a paperweight to form a grid.
Ground: A cushion on which the decorative element of a paperweight rests; usually convex in appearance when viewed through the top or sides of the weight.
Intaglio: A decoration either pressed or cut into a piece of glass.
Lace (also called Filigree, Gauze, Muslin, Upset Muslin): White or colored glass threads spiraled ground a clear rod; used in short segments to form a paperweight ground.
Lampwork: The manipulation of a glass with a gas burner or torch; also the process of creating representational paperweight objects.
Latticinio: A lacy backdrop created from white and clear glass. Lace is uniformly chaotic, whereas latticinio is a basketweave pattern.
Lattimo: Opaque, white milk glass.
Magnum: A paperweight with a diameter exceeding 3.25".
Marver: A smooth, flat iron surface on which the gather of molted glass at the end of a pontil rod is rolled.
Melt: A batch of molten glass.
Millefiori: Italian phrase for "a thousand flowers," the cross sections of molded glass rods of various sizes and colors used in paperweights.
Miniature: Paperweight with a diameter of less than two inches.
Overlay: A paperweight that has been coated with on (single overlay), two (double overlay), or three (triple overlay) layers of colored glass, with windows cut on its coated surface to allow visual access to the inner motif. Encased overlays have been further covered in a thick coating of clear glass.
Pontil Mark (or Pontil Scar): The characteristic mark in the center of a weight's base, where the weight was separated from the rod on which it was made.
Pontil Rod (or Punty Rod): A long, solid metal rod, usually made of iron, used to hold a paperweight while it is being made.
Ribbon: A cane containing a flat ribbon-like element, sometimes twisted; used in crown weights, torsades, and chequer weights.
Rod: A cylindrical length of glass, most often containing a simple molded design of more than one color; the basic component of a millefiori cane.
Silhouette Cane: A millefiori can that reveals the shape of an animal, flower, or figure when cut in cross section.
Spiral: An opaque glass thread wound around a clear rod.
Table Facet: A flat circular cut on the top of a weight.
Template (or Disc): In paperweight production, a small cast iron disc on which the motif is carefully arranged before being picked up.
Torsade (or Twist): An opaque glass thread loosely wound around a filigree core, usually found near the base of a mushroom weight.
