ABOUT GLASS

The Physical and Metaphysical Laws of Glass

 

It may seem like a lot to say about the metaphysical laws of glass, but often the truths are simple and can be found in physical laws,

Glass is an art of Fire, whose main lesson is: to be present.
Here, we’ll explore what we can learn from glass.

 

About Transparency

 

Transparency is the result of disorder.
Glass isn’t empty — but it lets light pass through.
Not because it’s perfect, but because inside, there is no crystalline order.

Its molecular structure is amorphous — disorganized, like a liquid that has stopped flowing but hasn’t settled into a fixed pattern.
This disorder prevents visible light from being absorbed.
And so, light passes through.

Transparency is not a quality of emptiness, but of a structure that offers no resistance.

 

 

About Annealing

​

Annealing is the process of stabilizing glass after shaping.
It’s the most delicate and subtle part of working with glass.

While we can observe glass melting and shaping, annealing happens on a molecular level.
It’s the moment when glass, after going through fire and form, settles into its new shape — with or without tension.

Annealing takes the longest out of all the steps — anywhere from 6 hours to 30 days, depending on the thickness of the piece.

 

About Tensions

​

Tensions in glass appear when temperature differences aren’t properly handled.
If annealing is uneven or rushed, internal stress builds up — invisible, but real.

Sometimes, a piece leaves the kiln looking perfect… only to crack weeks later.
All it takes is a vibration, a touch — and the built-up tension gives way.

Tensions are resolved with heat.
Not pressure. Not force.
Just a careful return to thermal balance.

 

 

About Time

 

Glass flows — but not the way many think.
It doesn’t drip through time — it shifts between states. From liquid to solid, without a sharp boundary. There’s no exact solidification point, only a slow transition — called the glass transition.

That’s why, when working with glass, time becomes something you can’t rush.
Push it, and you lose it. Wait too long, and it sets.

So you stay present. And work with what it gives you.

 

About Recycling

​

Glass doesn’t degrade when it’s recycled.
It can be melted and reshaped endlessly — without losing its properties.
That makes it different from most materials.

A recycled glass piece can become a bottle, a stained glass window, or a sculpture — and no one will ever know where it came from.
Something broken can become whole again — literally.

But not just in any way.
Only through heat, time, and a new shape.

 

Glass — In History and Modernity

​

The oldest known glass objects date back over 4,000 years — to Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt.
At first, glass was opaque, colored, and rare — shaped by hand into precious items like amulets and small vessels.

In Ancient Rome, the invention of glassblowing transformed production.
By the 1st century BC, glass became more accessible and part of daily life — used for cups, windows, and storage jars.

Today, more than 100 million tons of glass are produced globally each year — for construction, packaging, fiber optics, electronics, medicine, and art.

It’s one of the most versatile materials known, with recycling rates exceeding 80% in some European countries.

From luxury object to everyday presence, from Byzantine stained glass to modern microchips — glass has crossed eras and technologies without losing its essence.

It remains stable, yet open to transformation.
Forever reusable. 

 

A Final Thought

​

The therapeutic power of the arts comes, in part, from how they draw our mind and body into the same place — for longer periods of time.

Just like the body, our inner parts — patience, will, intuition, mind, and feeling — also need training.

Glass offers an extraordinary way to practice presence and patience.
Because it responds visibly when those are missing.