Cut to catch
the light.
Lead crystal blown thick, then cut by hand on the wheel — every facet placed to break white light into fire. Machine-pressed glass cannot do this.
One beam in,
a rainbow out.
Lead crystal is dense and slow to light — its high refractive index bends each colour by a different amount, so a single white beam leaves a cut facet as a spread of colour. That spread is the fire. Scroll, and split the light.
Wheel, water, and a true eye.
The blank
A thick blank of lead crystal, blown or pressed heavier than it needs to be — there must be glass to cut away before there is fire to find.
The marking
The pattern is stepped out in wax pencil by eye. Miter, hollow, olive, star — the vocabulary of cuts is laid down before the wheel ever touches glass.
The cut
Against a spinning stone or diamond wheel, fed with water, the cutter drives each facet by hand and by feel. One slip and the blank is scrap.
The polish
Rough cuts are smoothed on finer wheels and brought to a fire-polish — the surface cleared until every facet is a small, bright mirror.
Pieces that hold the light.
Goblets, decanters, bowls and one-off pieces — cut and polished by hand.
Stone, water, and lead crystal.
We cut and polish Bohemian lead crystal by hand, on the wheel, the way it has been done here for generations — heavy blanks, hand-marked patterns and fire-polished facets. We make few pieces, and every facet is placed by eye to throw the light.
Ask for fire.
Tell us the piece, the cut and the use — we will send a drawing and a price.