Glass is necessary in the everyday home. However, in a stylish and practical home – you will find glass used in so many different ways. One of these ways in shower screens.
While many homeowners are turning to glass shower screens over outdated shower curtains – one question still remains: should you choose framed or frameless glass shower screens?
Want to know if framed or frameless glass shower screens will suit your home the best?
Find out with those who know Perth glass, SV Glass by reading on.
The humble beginnings of glass
Buckle up and get ready – because we’re taking a voyage back through history to the times of Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. It’s in these locales and time periods that the earliest evidence of glass being manufactured exists.
Little to nothing is known about how our ancient ancestors experimented with glass manufacturing, but what we do know is before glass as we know it today, naturally occurring glass such as obsidian was utilised to create anything from knives to jewellery to money.
Fun facts:
- Glassmaking became a profession by the late Bronze Age (a period spanning from 3100 – 300 BCE).
- The process way back then was incredibly unreliable and slow which in turn made glass a rare and prized commodity.
- How did they do it? Glass artisans made their glass products by pouring molten glass into premade containers.
- It was Syrian and Palestinian artisans who discovered the art of glass blowing in the 1st century BCE, which in turn made glass readily produced and affordable.
From here, the Romans spread glass making techniques and its finished products through the Empire and eventually, the world.
Fast forward to the Middle Ages and Industrial Revolution
Throughout Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries, coloured glass was popularised and utilised with stunning effect in church and cathedral windows.
No earlier than 1608, the first dedicated glass factory was established in Jamestown, Virginia.
It took a couple of hundred years later for glass to be made in Australia (by S. Lord and F. Williams), a venture abandoned in just a few short years later. Don’t worry – of course glass making came back.
Yet, how is glass made?
How glass is made
In the simplest of forms, glass is made up of sand, recycled glass, sodium carbonate, calcium carbonate and heat.
Sand reaches its melting point at about 1698 degrees Celsius. When it gets to this stage, it becomes what’s known as ‘amorphous’ which means it’s not quite a liquid and not quite a solid.
From here it’s mouldable and able to be poured into different shapes or onto a flat surface to create a variety of glass objects.
We’ve certainly come a long way in the manufacturing of glass as we know it today.
When you need quality glass in Perth, trust in a company that knows and respects the history of glass and who are equally committed to developing and providing innovative glass making technologies.
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