Artistic Windows
Tubage - In search of a lost technique
A Master glassmaker, Vittorio Benvenuto came upon a long-lost technique purely chance: email tube has, in fact sunk into oblivion. The Master tells us how he has brought the technique back to life through experiments and research, and not without difficulties, while managing to restore some memorable pieces to their original splendour. only a few marvellous example of this art are available, and the secrets involved producing them have not been handed down to us.
THE EMAIL TUBE TECHNIQUE
This technique was very popular during the first decades of the twentieth century, as it made artistic windows less expensive. A paste that was ejected from a sort of syringe was used to frame the pieces of glass with a fine thread; transparent enamel was applied to the glasses themselves. The windows were then heated in a furnace.A few splendid examples of this technique do exist, principally by the Milan-based Corvaja e Bazzi firm, which was the main
producer of these windows in Italy. However, today the chemical composition of the paste used to frame the edges of glass remains an unrevealed secret, probably because the technique is quite complicated. It is virtually impossible to find pictorial material for email tube and, at any rate, it is very difficult to paint using this technique, and to establish the right temperature for heating the windows.
LAB TESTS
“It has taken me a lot of time and commitment to reconstruct the various phases of this technique and achieve an acceptable standard for the execution of the windows. My first encounter with email tube was during the 1980s, when I was asked to restore an accidentally broken glass door in an art nouveau-style villa near Treviso. My first look at the glass, which was made with various decorate rectangles soldered together with lead, immediately presented the difficulties involved in the task. Although I had already worked with baked enamels and grit threads, I had never come across this particular technique, so I decided to show the glass to two friends of mine who are experienced in the field of baked enamels. They had
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LAB TESTS
“It has taken me a lot of time and commitment to reconstruct the various phases of this technique and achieve an acceptable standard for the execution of the windows. My first encounter with email tube was during the 1980s, when I was asked to restore an accidentally broken glass door in an art nouveau-style villa near Treviso. My first look at the glass, which was made with various decorate rectangles soldered together with lead, immediately presented the difficulties involved in the task. Although I had already worked with baked enamels and grit threads, I had never come across this particular technique, so I decided to show the glass to two friends of mine who are experienced in the field of baked enamels. They had
page [2] >>