Colonial Process of Glass Making

• The ingredients the Colonists used depended on the type of glass they were trying to make. Soda lime glass consists of sand, limestone's lime, sodium oxide's soda, and silica; while flint glass consists of sand, soda, lead and calcined flint. Colonial men would choose and mix their ingredients, and heat them in an oven to make glass. Then they would make a mold of the shape they wanted for their glass piece, and using tongs they would take the molten glass mixture out of the oven and place it in a mold attached to a glass-blowing pipe. They would blow air into the pipe while rotating it. Sometimes, expert glass blowers would blow the glass into a certain shape without the mold.
  
  

Window panes

• In Colonial America, glass blowers routinely made window panes. You can make your own faux glass window pane with staple items that may be in your pantry. To make faux glass, slather a stick of room temperature butter on a cookie sheet. Put your buttered cookie sheet in the fridge. While waiting for it to cool, pour 1 cup of sugar into a pot over low heat. Stir the sugar until it melts. Before the sugar starts to caramelize, pour it onto the cooled baking sheet, and allow the sugar to cool.
  
  

Etched Glass

• Etched glass was very popular during the Colonial period. Popular etched designs included floral and fruit patterns. Glass artisans created these designs by placing a pattern or stencil onto a piece of glass, and blowing everything but the area to be etched. To make your own colonial-style etched glass piece, you will need an etching tool that uses diamond tips, paper and a piece of glass. First, draw your pattern on a piece of paper. Next, begin lightly etching the outline of your image with your etching tool. If you're not good at freehand etching, place your sketch behind the piece of glass, and trace it with your etching tool. Once your outline is finished, start shading with your etching tool to give your design depth.
  
  

Stained Glass

• Colonial glass artists were known for making superb stained glass pieces, such as windows. Some of the designs they included were floral and geometric motifs as well as scenes from the Bible. You can create your own stained glass masterpiece with a window pane, a paint brush, stained glass paint or markers, and a stencil of your design. Place your stencil on your piece of glass, and paint the areas that are visible through the stencil. According to the Michaels' website, you should then bake your glass. After baking your stained glass, allow let it cool before taking it out of the oven.