GlassHouseMiami, Hialeah

What services does your business offer and what makes your business stand out from the competition?

-- We offer Glass Pendent Sculpting with Borosilicate Glass.Borosilicate glass is created by adding boric oxide[4] to the traditional glassmaker's frit of silica sand, soda, and ground lime. Since borosilicate glass melts at a higher temperature than ordinary silicate glass, some new techniques were required for industrial production. Borrowing from the welding trade, burners combining oxygen with natural gas were required.

What was the inspiration to start or run this business?

---My love for the Medium. Lamp-working and constructing my own art. Borosilicate, or "boro" (as it is often called), is used extensively in the glassblowing process lampworking; the glassworker uses a burner torch to melt and form glass, using a variety of metal and graphite tools to shape it. Borosilicate is referred to as "hard glass" and has a higher melting point (approximately 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit / 1648 degrees Celsius) than "soft glass," which is preferred for glassblowing by beadmakers. Raw glass used in lampworking comes in glass rods for solid work and glass tubes for hollow work tubes and vessels/containers. Lampworking is used to make complex and custom scientific apparatus; most major universities have a lampworking shop to manufacture and repair their glassware. For this kind of "scientific glassblowing", the specifications must be exact and the glassblower must be highly skilled and able to work with precision. Lampworking is also done as art and common items made include goblets, paper weights, pipes, pendants, compositions and figurines.