Roman Glass: " 'tis a concrete of salt and sand or stones"
We specialize in researching the techniques involved in making Roman glass vessels, and in reproducing Roman glass using fusing and slumping, mould-blowing and free-blowing techniques. Our reproductions of Roman glass may be ordered directly from our studio.
Roman Glass
Glass From Other Periods
Business Topics
Other Topics
These are the main navigation links for our website, and are found at the top of each main page
Calendar
Contact Us Details of our reproductions can be found in our Gallery
(Links In Detail - descriptions of our Business Topics and Other Topics links - our site maps)
The Roman Furnace Project 2005 section of the website has now been fully updated with accounts of progress to date,
together with plenty of photographs
The Roman Furnace Project 2006 section of the website has pages on the demolition of the old structures
and the construction of the new ones. More pages will be added in due course!
Two articles on the Roman Furnace Project have been published in the Journal of Glass Studies, Volume 50 (2008)
Click here for further details
A News Page (not a blog!), with some information on various events and plans for the future, including information on the expansion of Project Workshops
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For background information on ancient glass and our reproductions, click on these links: Mosaic Glass - late Hellenistic and early Imperial RomanRibbed Bowls - late Hellenistic and early Imperial Roman Mould-blown Beakers - from the 1st century AD Free-blown Glass - from the 1st to the 4th centuries AD Late Roman Engraved Glass - from the 3rd and 4th centuries AD Counters and Games - Roman counters and board games Medieval and Post-medieval Glass - Glass from the 13th to the 17th century. We are concentrating on English forest glass and its successors, up to the introduction of lead crystal (or flint) glass in the late 17th century. Glas-Repliken - see this website for a German version of some of our work Georgian Glassmakers - visit our website dedicated to late 17th and 18th century drinking glasses and bottles The research work that we do provides the basis for the glass that we sell: Gallery - links to more detailed information and images of glass vessels currently for saleCalendar - the events we are attending Contact Us - Our postal address, e-mail address and telephone number, together with a location map Payment - payment information. We are now able to accept payments via PayPal. Individual vessel prices are included in the Gallery links. Other work we have done: Roman Furnace Project 2005 - between April and May 2005. Building two wood-fired furnaces based on excavated Roman remains and using them for glassblowing.Roman Furnace Project 2006 - between April and May 2006. Continuing the 2005 Project by rebuilding one furnace and building a new lehr. Firing all three structures and once again working with hot glass. Velzeke Furnace Project 2008 - in November 2008. Blowing glass (in the snow!) at Velzeke, in Belgium. A wood-fired furnace and annealing oven was constructed, based on our designs, by two Dutch friends of ours. See this website for information and illustrations. Articles - on various Roman glass topics written by Mark and David. These include articles on mould-blowing, circus beakers, window glass and ribbed bowls. Archive - our Newsletters and thumbnail images of our mosaic vessels Television and Film Work - some information on the work we have done for television and film companies Artwork - information on David's work as an Archaeological Illustrator and a gallery of his cartoons. December 2008 - this section has been updated with plenty of cartoons on various themes, including Mithras, Early Music and the lute! 
Links in detail:
Business Topics - on this page we have detailed links within our website relating to our business. The subjects are: the Gallery, the Calender, Glassblowing Lessons and Demonstrations, and Exhibitions, Payment and Contact details.
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This new (2010) illustration of a Roman glassblowing workshop contrasts with the earlier painting that we created in 1995 (see this page). Unlike the first attempt, this depiction is based directly upon our personal experience of running the wood-fired furnaces (see this page). It features many of the systems of working that we evolved at the projects here in the UK and in the continuing project in Velzeke, Belgium (see the Glas-Repliken website); a style of glassmaking that we have since adopted in our modern workshop.
Glass may be ordered directly from our studio. Please contact us for the latest information on our work.
We have worked as glassmakers since 1989, and have devoted all of our time to re-creating Roman glass. In June 2001, we switched from making free-blown and mould-blown Roman glass to working full-time on mosaic glass for one year. In our capacity as glassblowers we have appeared on several British national television programmes devoted to archaeology. We have also supplied glass to several of Ridley Scott's films: 'Gladiator', 'Kingdom of Heaven' and 'Robin Hood'. In 2005, with funding from English Heritage and other sponsors, we began our Roman Furnace Project. This Project was continued in 2006. In 2007, we began to offer glassblowing demonstrations, adding to this in 2008 with glassblowing lessons. During the early part of 2010, we moved to our new premises at Project Workshops. In the pursuit of our work, we have attracted the interest and attention of many glass historians, and their help and support has been invaluable to us.
This website is © Mark Taylor and David Hill 2002
It has been written by, and is maintained by Mark and David
Last updated September 2011
Archived June 2016