Waterford Crystal

Last Thursday we stopped in Waterford to tour the crystal factory there. The tour started with a little introduction on the company and the history of making crystal.  Brothers George and William Penrose started making crystal in Waterford in 1783 and their business continued until 1851. A Czech immigrant by the name of Charles Bacik decided to open another crystal shop there in 1947. The city was still known for the quality of the Penrose brothers' crystal,  which is why Bacik decided to center his business there.

The first room of the tour is the mould room, where moulds are made out of beach or pear wood. These wooden moulds are generally used for special orders or when developing a new product. Even though beach and pear wood withstand heat incredibly well, the moulds usually only last between 7 and 10 days. Pieces that are produced often, like things you would find in their catalogue, would be made in cast iron moulds instead.

Right: blowing the molten crystal into vaguely the right shape
Left: putting the crystal into the mould

Next you enter the blowing room where the crystal actually takes shape. The furnaces heat the molten crystal to 1300°C (2372°F). Once the crystal is red hot, the blowers remove it from the furnace and use wooden tools and their lungs to shape the crystal before putting it in the mould. Once the crystal cools to its normal clear color the piece is removed from the mould, checked for impurities, and is off to the kiln to slowly cool to room temperature.

Once the pieces are fully cooled they go through a series of quality checkpoints.  If they have any slight imperfection, they are smashed and remelted for another go round. The pieces then go to be marked for cutting. A temporary pattern is drawn on each piece that later gets cleaned off during the washing and polishing stage.

The next part of the process is the most interesting and impressive part. Master Cutters use diamond-tipped wheels to cut the patterns into each piece. Even though the pieces are marked with the pattern, the Master Cutters know the designs by memory; they have to before they can finish their apprenticeship. The other way the pieces are cut is by a pair of large, automatic cutting machines.

Brendon working on a bowl at his wheel

What's really cool about this room of the tour is that the Master Cutters will actually talk to you and tell you what they're working on. One Cutter named Brendon chatted with Molly, Joy,and I for quite a while. He talked with us about the differences between machine cuts and cuts done by hand. Horizontal cuts along rounded objects are difficult and time consuming for the Cutters so they often have the machines do these. The machines also do circular cuts, which is what is happening in the picture below.