The raw material of mainly silica sand, lead oxide and potassium carbonate are melted in one of three single pot furnaces. Each pot contains approximately 600 kilograms of batch (mixture) and is melted overnight to be ready to work each morning. The painstaking process then begins.
Blowers remove a ball of molten glass on the end of a blowing pipe, which is then worked into the desired shape. (The team of blowers will use up all the contents of the pot in one working day. It will be filled again ready for the next day).
The piece of crystal then goes through an Annealing Oven which cools it to room temperature in three hours. Designs are then cut on to the blank piece by cutter using diamond tipped wheels. A unique method of fine finish chemical polishing is the final step in this long process. This step, like all others is executed by hand. A time consuming procedure, to be sure, but one that preserves the integrity of the cuts, so that light falling on sharply defined angles, is perfectly refracted into a myriad of colours portraying a diamond like brilliance.
The piece is then packed and ready for sale or dispatch. Blown by mouth… shaped, moulded, cut and polished by hand… Such is the essence of each Penrose Crystal Limited Edition. There are, of course, less expensive ways to produce crystal – but none that is better. For the true connoisseur of the art form, there exists no finer representation of true craftsmanship.