i6z THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The blank itself is perfectly plain — a simple, heavy bottle with 

 smooth surface. Its proportions are good. The decoration is to 

 consist of a twenty-fonr-pointed star on the bottom, a series of 

 more or less complicated diagonal cuttings on the bulging sides, 

 and six or eight broad facets around the neck. To these may be 

 added a number of features of less prominence, such as a series of 

 oval facets around the base of the carafe, and some smaller cut- 

 tings at the top. It is the glass-worker's custom to begin with the 

 star on the bottom. This is cut entirely by the eye, no design 

 being traced on the glass. The first process is known technically 

 as " roughing " it, and consists in cutting the design in the glass 

 with coarse tools, which leave rough facets, but remove most of 

 the glass to be cut away. The roughing- wheel is made of iron, 

 and is about two feet in diameter. It is mounted on a horizonal 

 axis. The face of the wheel is about seven eighths of an inch 

 broad, and is kept supplied with a mixture of coarse sand and 

 water allowed to constantly drip upon it from a hopper above. 

 The wheel makes about a thousand revolutions a minute, the 

 speed varying with the character of the work to be done. It is 

 slower for the deeper cuttings. The workman seizes the carafe 

 with both hands, and presses the bottom firmly against the edge' 

 of the rotating wheel, making a cut across the center, and as far 

 each way as it is desired to have the star extend. Then he turns 

 the carafe around one sixth of a revolution, and makes a similar 

 cut through the center, judging of the distance entirely by his 

 eye. A second turn of one sixth of a revolution, and a third 

 cut along a diameter is made. This gives a six-pointed star. 

 The intervening spaces are then divided by similar cuts, and 

 the spaces thus formed again divided, giving a twenty -four- 

 pointed star. 



A tyro in the art would make a very poor figure of it, but the 

 regular cutters become exceedingly expert, and are able to make 

 comparatively perfect designs in this seemingly off-hand fashion. 

 A trained eye will, of course, have no difficulty in detecting inac- 

 curacies, but the designs are symmetrical enough for all purposes 

 of decoration, 



The cutting does not yet possess much beauty, for its faces are 

 as rough as ground glass. Already, however, it begins to show 

 the promise of what it is to be. In treating the bulging sides of 

 the carafe, greater difficulties present themselves in disposing the 

 pattern symmetrically. It is, therefore, the custom to paint a 

 number of guiding lines on the surface of the glass. A few cir- 

 cular lines surrounding the carafe, and a few up-and-down lines 

 afford a series of intersections which are sufficient to enable the 

 cutter to develop a uniform pattern. In the same way the facets 

 surrounding the neck are determined by a couple of limiting cir- 



