We're not just playing with hot glass at Niche HQ! When a piece is finished in our Hot Shop, it goes into a lehr, a temperature-controlled kiln for annealing glass objects. Rapid cooling of hot glass generates an uneven temperature distribution throughout the glass, which results in stress sufficient to cause cracking before the object has reached room temperature.

To prevent this, glass objects are annealed by cooling gradually in the lehr from a temperature just below the solidification point of the glass. Anneal cooling rate depends on the thickness of the glass and size of the object. When it's done, the piece is ready to be cold-worked - the collective term for techniques used to alter and finish cold glass. Here's how we do it, all by hand!

1. HOT-POPPING

In our shop, the first step is hot popping. After marking an even line around the circumference of a glass piece, a heat gun is used to "pop" off the excess glass from the glassblowing pipe that is not part of the finished design.

2. DRILLING

Next, for our pendant lights, we find the center hanging point of the glass so it hangs evenly when suspended. From the center mark, we drill a hole in the top of the pendant - this is where the bulb and cord will be fed through and attached for hanging.

3. GRINDING

Any jagged or uneven edges are removed and smoothed by grinding the glass on a rotating wheel with an abrasive surface or coating.

4. BEVELING

A beveler is used to create a uniform, inward sloped edge of the glass. Then, the beveled edge is polished to pristine perfection!

5. WASHING

Finally, the glass is washed to remove any fine glass flakes, fingerprints or markings. And voila! The completed piece is available for you at our Spring Factory on June 13 and 14! Browse our selection of seconds and samples and pick out the pendants that are right for you. Everything at the sale is 50-80% off for these two days only! You won't get this deal anywhere else, so plan your trip to Beacon, New York now!