Production Video

Click on the picture to the left to see a two minute video by George Machart on how a contemporary "Leaf & Vine" vase is made. Free Hand pieces would have been made in much the same way as George Machart made the vase in his video. Unlike the video, some Free Hand pieces were "doped" (sprayed while hot with metallic salt solutions) to produce a lustre or iridized finish. Occassionally pieces were double or possibly even triple doped and,of course, some examples have applied feet, bases, handles, etc.

Note: To produce an Imperial Lily Pad & Vine decor the small globs of glass seen in the video being flattened and then shaped into leaves/hearts would have first been rolled in a different color of cold glass chips before being added to the vase.

Sometimes Free Hand examples have been found that have been "double doped", i.e. sprayed with two different metallic salt formulas/colors, as the three versions of the same bowl below.