History of Crystal.
The history of Crystal stretches back over the millennia to its origins, around 5000 BC.
It is believed that the travelers of the time who crossed the deserts had to carry fuel (Wood) with them to keep themselves warm at night.
Early one morning they noticed that in the embers of their camp fire, the sand appeared to have changed in appearance. When the sun had risen enough, to pour its golden rays on the area, the light from the sun began to reflect and sparkle.
This was the beginning of a natural phenomenon known as fusing, where certain raw materials fuse together, change and become one.
In fact what happened that morning was that the sand of the desert had fused with the potash from the wood and together with the extreme heat from the fire, the raw material had become crystallized. This was later developed and used to form objects that carried water and precious liquids like perfumes. Thus the whole concept of using crystal to carry liquids and later for ornamental purposes came into being.
Long before diamond wheels were available, craftsmen used other methods for their era.
They started hundreds of years ago using stone wheels, and cooled them by pouring water over them, this prevented the crystal from breaking.
This job fell to the apprentice who also had to use pedals to keep the wheel rotating as the Master was working.
With the introduction of steam power a hundred years later, the wheels were turned using piston power and cooled by using a water stream to prevent the crystal from overheating and breaking.
History provided by IONA Irish Crystal
