Gohobi Pate de Verre Zen Snow Glass Tea Cup

Pate de Verre

The name Pate de Verre is French for glass paste, and the technique involves creating a paste from powdered glass and colouring agents and filling a fire-proof mould with this paste then firing it in a furnace to melt the glass.

The technique was known in ancient Rome and Egypt, but in the art nouveau period (very early 1900s) it was developed to a very high artistic level by such French artists as Gabriel Argy-Rousseau, Henry and Jean Cros, Albert Dammouse, Francois Decorchemont, Amalric Walter, Emile Galle and Georges Despret. In the USA Frederick Carder made pate de verre and cast glass pieces for Steuben glass.

12 steps:
1. Design and finely sculpt prototypes
2. Apply multiple layers of silicone mold
3. Wax filling
4. Remove the silicone mold and obtain a complete wax model
5. Fine wax-up
6. Refractory plaster mold made from wax type
7. Steam dewaxing to obtain refractory plaster mold
8. kiln firing
9. Secondary melting
10. Removing refractory plaster mold
11. Detailed trimming, grinding and polishing
12. Final quality control packaging, then engraving and signature

The coloured glass paste was put into the mould using a paint brush or similar tool, first filling the sections which would eventually stand out in relief (like the red dress and apples and dark branches of the picture above left). The background of different colours was then added to a thickness of several millimetres and the centre of the mould filled in some way to prevent the paste from slumping. Argy-Rousseau filled the centre with powdered asbestos. The filled mould was then fired to melt the glass paste and fuse it into a single piece, and allowed to cool very slowly to anneal the glass. Finally the mould would be removed, either by pulling apart the separate pieces or by lifting out the glass object (only possible with certain shapes) or by destroying the mould. Further work on the glass, such as polishing or engraving or decorating was then undertaken.