When glasses reached the stage of having a stem and a foot, the stem was drawn from the surplus glass of the bow! and the foot spun on to the end of the stem. Those were called "drawn-stem glasses." -|The next variety had a stem with a lot of twists ouch as we see in the baluster of an old wooden staircase. They were known as "baluster stems," and allowed the gouty fingers of our forefathers to lift the glass more securely. So far the bow! had not been altered, but now the "lip" was spread ' out, forming what is known jas the "ogee" bowl. Following that came a narrowing of the lip—producing the "ego-shaped" bowl, to empty which it was necessary to. throw back the head. "No heel taps" was the ery.
The bow! and stem then became engraved and cut. Every historical or political occasion was seized on by the glass decorator to popularize his wares. 'Those inscribed glass especially' with Jacobite sentiments, are worth hundreds of guineas per piece to-day.
Twisted Stems Another innovation was the twisted stem—elaimed by experts to be tithe apex of the British glass blower's skill, No other country has approached us in the produecalled. The bow! and the foot lade quite separately.
a small rod of inches thick. which fest, are placed equidistant shx or Jelgnt "thin strips of opaque. or coloured glass. The whole is put: {nto the mouth of the furnace and slowly softened by heat. Tt is then extracted and the rod. pulled out the desired thickness; at the same time the glass-maker gives it with great deftness, a peculiar twist. The stem is now cut to the required length, and again softened lite at either end, to allow the howl and the foot to be stuck on. Those twists are typically English. hey were greatly vogue, their popularity Tasting up to the middle of the 18th century.—W. R. Fleming in "Glasgow Herald."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.