The Glassblower of Murano - Marina Fiorato [80]
`So,' he said to Jacques, with a firmness that belied his doubts, `we begin'
He took up the largest blowpipe, and reached into the fire for the molten cristallo. As he felt the heat blast his face he thought again of the words of Dante, but this time his favourite couplet: `Even so rained down the everlasting heat, And, as steel kindles tinder, kindled the sands.' Corradino was kindling the sands now, coaxing crystalline beauty from a quintessence of dust. He took such a large amount of gather on the end of his pipe that he had to constantly turn the rod as he blew the parison.
Jacques looked confused, and tentatively questioned his master. `Maitre, I thought we were to make a mirror, not to blow glass?'
Corradino slid his eyes sideways as he blew. There was merriment there.
When the parison was blown Corradino spun the bubble on the end of the pipe and transferred it to his pontello. He then took the parison to the water tank and let it rest there, floating like a buoy. As it cooled he took a sharp blade and cut swiftly down the length of the bubble so the sides of the cylinder relaxed flat onto the surface of the water tank, and the amber glass cooled on the surface to a flat clear pane.
`So ...' breathed Jacques into a reverent silence,'. . . that is how it is done.'
Corradino squatted and squinted with a practised eye down the surface of the tank. He nodded. `Yes. That is how. 'Twas but an accident when I discovered it, but it is the only way to make a pane of such a size, with the same thickness throughout.!
'And the water?'
`Water, when stilled, is completely flat, wherever it lies on the earth. It is the original mirror - nature's mirror. Even if its tank or vessel is tilted, it will always find its true level. I just hope that the French waters of your pestilent river will make as fine a glass as the sweet acqua of Venice's lagoon. Now, we must dress the new-born.' He lifted the cooled pane tenderly and laid it on the surface of the neighbouring vat, which housed a molten silver compound so bright it resembled a mirror itself. `This is mercury and silver sulfate,' said Corradino, `but only on the surface. Here too there is water underneath.!
'Why, Maitre?'
`Because these silvering compounds are very costly. Even for your King it would be too lavish to fill a whole tank with them. But there is sufficient on the surface to cover the glass with the correct thin skin to produce a reflection. You must always take care that you cover the entire surface of the tank, lest there are empty patches which will leave the glass clear. And take care of the mercury - it is an evil compound, and one that enters the skin of a man with ease. Many of our trade have died from its arts - I know of one such very close to me.' He smiled at his black jest as he recalled how he had imitated a mercury poisoning - blackening his own tongue with charcoal and letting the spittle run from his mouth on his `deathbed'. But when he recalled how the sight of him must have greeted Giacomo he ceased to smile.
He turned back to Jacques. `Just take care to let as little of the mixture touch you as you can. Here;' he demonstrated, using two small wads of leather to lift out the huge silvered pane. `The silvering dries very quickly - see? It has almost parched in the heat of the furnace:
Jacques looked on in awe as the compounds dried, and as they did, his blurred image resolved into a pin-sharp, bright perfection.
`Now, you see that the edges are rough, where I cut the parison? We score down the edges using the same knife and a metal rule,' Corradino suited the action to the words. `It's only necessary to break the very surface of the silvering, because, as you see, the glass will snap off cleanly along the line you have made. Here there are many metal rules provided for us, for as you know, the crowning panes of our mirrors in the palazzo are to be curved, and for those you will need one of these: Corradino held up a flexible length of metal, which he curved into shape. As Jacques nodded he turned back