APPLIED STRIPES 
Surfaces decorated with straight or twisted lines - from Venetian rods from the beginning of 
the 19th Century (ills. 68-73, pp. 121-125) to the samples of the Hessen Glasshouse in 
Oberursel (ill. 61, p. 113) and the striped beads of differing provenance, including one 
unknown Austrian “Gablonzer” glass producer (ill. 22, p. 56) - demonstrate a production 
method which Keess and Altmütter describe: 
“In Murano they also make tabacco pipes which are usually overlaid with colored glass canes. 
The method of production is almost the same, only the softened colored glass is placed on the 
white glass gather right at the beginning and then the whole is drawn, and if the colored stripes 
are to look twisted, the cane is turned while running” (Keess 2/1823, p. 900). 
“... Raisedparallel stripes and fluting can be had... bypreparing the tubes from which the beads 
are to be made. This is usually already done at the glasshouses; the tubes are attached length- 
wise all the way around with thin little glass canes, which adhere to them by being melted on. 
One has the power to either unite them with the tubes so that they form raised stripes or, choos- 
ing a different color, so that they melt completely into the glass. In both cases these little canes 
remain visible no matter how finely the tubes are drawn out; it makes a very excellent appear- 
ance in drawing... when tubes, canes and such retain their original shape, so that, e.g., a one- 
inch thick, round, three or four cornered glass rod still keeps its first shape even though it is 
drawn out as thin as a hair... The stripes, raised or if they are melted into the tube walls, smooth, 
distinguishable through their different colors, can even appear twisted in a spiral on the finished 
bead if one either slowly turns the tube itself around its axis while it is in a soft state, or does the 
same thing with the blown bead...” (Altmütter 1841, pp. 89, 90). 
In making blown glass objects, brightly colored stripes are often applied freely as with the 
“rainbow colored” glass from Fischer (Fischer 1892, pp. 115-119). The color winds itself in 
wide stripes around the iris-glasses made by Stölzle. 
FILIGREE GLASS 
Infinite variations of filigree and network patterns, found not only on the high vases and wide 
bowls from Venice, but also on glass beads, bear witness to the enormous skill of the 
filigree glass workers. 
“The name filigree glass is applied to those glasses which are put together from a larger or lesser 
number of little canes or threads, melted into a whole in which the enchanting net-like or spiral 
patterns are formed. These glasses are often called knitted or lace glass for this reason. This 
technique, although already partly known to the ancients and also practiced by the Byzantines as 
the reports of Theophilus prove, was first perfected by the Venetians and put to use in manifold 
ways” (Karmarsch-Heeren 1880, p. 49). 
Bundles of tubes and canes with stripes, network and filigree already came to the “Cabinet of 
Factory Products” before 1837 and 1839 as products from Dalmistro, Moravia & Co. (1839 
called Dalmistro, Minerbi & Co.). Views of cross-sections show the tiny diameters of the 
differently colored canes which, arranged in a specific order, produced the most enchanting 
patterns (ill. 66, p. 120; ill. 70, p. 124). The Sketches show the complicated arrangements for 
making the filigree, network and millefiori glass very clearly (ill. 74, p. 126). In 1861, 
Karmarsch illustrated the section on filigree glass, threaded glass, petinet glass, network 
glass with schematic drawings (ill. 76, p. 129). I have put together several pages with such 
drawings using a French sourcefrom 1868 (Bontemps) (ills. 77-79, pp. 131-133). Most of the 
later glass technologies go back to this source, as does Benrath (Benrath 1875, pp. 353-355). 
The assortment of patterns from Dalmistro, Moravia & Co. (1839 called Dalmistro, Minerbi & 
Co.) is large: it ranges from straight, applied threads all the way to canes with brightly colored 
twisted stripes, from transparent to translucid and opaque canes and threads. A picture of 
damaged samples shows the dimensions of the canes applied to the outside walls of the solid 
rod especially well (ill. 71, p. 124), and three lumps of modern-day production illustrate the 
layeringof millefiori glass (ill. 75, p. 128). Gablonz examples from the Biedermeier period are 
the straight or twisted striped canes for “pressed buttons” (ill. 67, p. 120). 
152