Caneworking

In each, the fundamental technique is the same: a lump of glass, often containing some pattern of colored and clear glass, is heated in a furnace (glory hole) and then pulled, by means of a long metal rod (punty) attached at each end.

As the glass is stretched out, it retains whatever cross-sectional pattern was in the original lump, but narrows quite uniformly along its length (due to the skill of the glassblowers doing the pulling, aided by the fact that if the glass becomes narrower at some point along the length, it cools more there and thus becomes stiffer).

Cane is usually pulled until it reaches roughly the diameter of a pencil,[Notes 1] when, depending on the size of the original lump, it may be anywhere from one to fifty feet in length.

After cooling, it is broken into sections usually from four to six inches long, which can then be used in making more complex canes or in other glassblowing techniques.

Simultaneously an assistant prepares a 'post' which is another punty with a small platform of clear glass on the end.

The post is pressed against the end of the hot cylinder of glass to connect them, and the glassblower (or 'gaffer') and assistant walk away from each other with the punties, until the cane is stretched to the desired length and diameter.

The tip of a glassblowing pipe (blowpipe) is covered with a 'collar' of clear molten glass, and touched to one corner of the aligned canes.

The cylinder of canes is sealed at the bottom with jacks and tweezers, to form the beginning of a bubble.

This technique involves the gaffer creating a bubble from molten clear glass while an assistant heats the pattern of cane.

The bubble must be the right size and temperature for the pattern to cover it fully without any gaps or trapping air.

When this cylinder is the right size, the glassblower plunges it into the warm cup, without touching any of the sides until it is inserted all the way.