The Construction of Glass Paperweights
The Technique Behind The Art
(All Photos Courtesy of Perthshire)

Many of the techniques used in the construction of the incredible paperweights shown on this web site are common to all the artists, Perthshire Paperweights has provided this description and the following photos of their work--for this we are very thankful!

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CREATING A PERTHSHIRE PAPERWEIGHT:  Each of the weights made at Perthshire Paperweights contains a combination of all their craftspeople.  There are several stages in making the perfect paperweight, and each one requires skill, precision and patience.  The following is a simplified version of the process.

GLASS:  At Perthshire Paperweights all of their glass is made using sand and various chemicals, the quality of the molten glass is obviously crucial.

MILLEFIORI CANES:  A gather of clear glass is rolled in white powdered glass and then in powdered colored glass.  The gather is pressed into a mold and allowed to cool until it holds the form of the mold.  The shaped gather is returned to the furnace where a clear layer of glass is added.  This is again rolled in the white and colored powdered glass until the correct shade is achieved.  The cane is then stretched until it is about 1/4" diameter.

PICTURE CANES:  Picture Canes are constructed by painstakingly placing hundreds of thin glass rods together to form the picture required.  The finished bundle is then wrapped with wire, fused in an oven, heated and slowly pulled until it is of the required thickness.

LAMPWORK:  A glassworker using a gas flame softens and manipulates tiny glass rods to create lampwork designs of infinite variety.
 

THE WEIGHT:  If the paperweight is to be a millefiori design, one of the setters will carefully arrange the canes on a metal holding plate.  The complete design is slowly heated over a glass flame and is then ready to be made into a weight.

Depending on whether or not the weight is to have a colored ground, a gather of glass will be coated several times with powdered colored glass.  The molten glass is then shaped on a steel plate until it is in the correct size to pick up the design.  The molted glass is pressed onto the design and held allowing the canes to fuse with the glass, it is then returned to the furnace to pick up enough glass to form the dome.  Special tools are then used to smooth and shape the dome.
 
The same process is followed if the design is one of lampwork, although greater care must be taken to ensure that the delicate lampwork assembly is not broken or distorted during the fusing.

FINISHING OFF:  When the weight is finished being shaped it is removed from the "punty" by gently striking the punty, the weight breaks off and is allowed to fall into a bed of sand.  The weight is now placed in an annealing oven which allows it to cool down slowly.
 
Once cool, the weight is taken for its final faceting and/or polishing.
 

MISC:  A few more pictures--
Dropping on another color in the creation of a cane.

Setting a pattern in molds.

Covering a weight with molten glass.

Blowing and shaping a large scent bottle.

Assembly of a hollow weight.

It is amazing what all goes into the production of a paperweight.  To add an extra twist, many times a final color does not become apparent until a piece is cooled!  Few will ever have the talent to produce such beautiful works of art, thankfully we all have the opportunity to own them.