Crackle Glass

Crackle glass was invented in the 16th century by the master glassblowers of Venice.  The crackle effect is produced by briefly submerging the very hot glass into cold water during the glass-forming process.  This causes the outer layer of glass to crack. When the glass is then reheated and expanded (by blowing into the blowpipe) the cracks grow larger.

Crackle glass (often spelled "craquelle") did not become popular until the late 1800s. From about 1920 to 1960 many glass houses produced it. But very little crackle glass has been produced since then.

During the past ten years collecting crackle glass has become a very important specialty among many glass collectors.

Until recently almost all crackle pieces were made exclusively of transparent glass (thus it is often referred to as "ice glass").

Although Jeff often makes pieces in that classic technique, he more frequently employs opaque glasses in his designs. He says he likes the rich, fascinating contrasts that appear when the opaque glasses form their many random crack lines.

But whether one uses transparent or opaque (or both), the crackle effect yields an exciting piece of glass -- which by its very nature is totally unique.

If you would like to see pictures of Jeff blowing a crackle piece, just click here.