Hand blown glass bell - is formed by two bulged expansions in tube blank between open and closed spike to be pressed together for the bell shape

摘要

To produce a hand-blown glass bell, such as a decorative Christmas bell, a blank is drawn from a glass tube so that the cylindrical blank ends in a closed spike at the drawn end, and the other end of the blank is formed into an open spike for the hanging eyelet. The blank is blown to give two spherical expansion zones, of different dias., where the smaller bulge at the open spike side and the larger section at the closed spike. A projecting ring rib is formed on the outer surface of the larger bulge, by a light compression along the axis of the blank, to position it between the centre of the spherical bulge and the closed end. Both the spherical bulges are pressed together to form a bell shape without a break in the profile line. The closed spike is separated from the section projecting beyond the ring rib, and an eyelet to hang the clapper is fused into place at the cutting point. The closed section is then pressed into the interior of the glass body, to place the clapper eyelet within it. The open spike is detached. ADVANTAGE - The method allows hand-blown bells to be produced with a greater height than 12 cm