Affordable Figurines. Com
|
Crystal Animal Figurines
Crystal animal figurines are dazzling enchantments that will be passed down through the generations and never lose its fascination.
Crystal animal figurines have an ancestry that reaches back to about 2000 BC somewhere in Mesopotamia, and ultimately reached Egypt.
It would be over three millenniums before a process would be discovered to make it possible to have beauty and sparkle of crystal animal figurines. The art of glass blowing was discovered most likely in Syria around 100 BC, this made it possible to create animal figurines at the end of a hollow tube or blown into a mould.
This made glass animal figurines accessible to the common people as the art spread into many countries along with the expansion of the Roman Empire.
Crystal as we know it today was discovered in 1676, when George Ravenscroft added lead oxide to his glass mixture. This produced a crystal with dramatically improved clarity, advanced index refraction, increased weight and the ability to have deep definitive cuts without breakage.
This allowed crystal animal figurines to be born. Crystal animal figurines can contain up to 40% lead for maximum hardness, but 30% is considered full lead crystal. Crystal animal figurines with a content of 24% or greater will have the acclaim to its greater sparkle, intensity, transparency and unequalled clarity of any other crystal.
To make colored crystal animal figurines different pigments are added to the glass mixture. To produce blue crystal animal figurines cobalt oxide is added; for green, copper oxide is added to the mixture. You can also produce black, brown, orange, yellow, purple and red crystal animal figurines in a countless number of shades.
The exquisite art of fashioning crystal animal figurines has not significantly changed over the last few centuries. Turkish crystal animal figurines as well as those animal figurines of hand crafted Bohemian crystal from the Czech and Slovak Republics have been fashioned primarily after cats and dragons for several centuries.
Although good quality crystal animal figurines often can be a little on the expensive side they are well worth what you pay for these treasured works of art.
One of the most popular of all crystal animal figurines on the market today is the stunning dolphin; it is fashioned in an extended variety of designs. After crystal animal figurines are shaped and etching needs to be done, there are two processes used to accomplish this. Number one is called Pantoghaph, this is where the crystal animal figurines are covered in wax and the design wanted is scraped away. Then the animal figurines are dipped in a mild acid solution that burns the design into the crystal.
The second method is Sandblasting, here the design not to be cut is masked on the crystal, and then a fine stream of silica is shot through a fine nozzle etching the unprotected portion of the animal figurines.
When you are searching for that perfect gift or that something personal just for yourself, that is sure to become a heirloom, be sure to take the time to look into the ever glittering world of crystal animal figurines.
|
|
