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Glassblowing is a technique which inflates molten glass into a bubble (or parison), with the aid of a blowpipe. A person who blows glass is called a glassblower, while the head of a glassblowing workshop is known as a gaffer. The process was invented by Syrian craftsmen from Hama and Aleppo between 27 BC and 14 AD, who discovered the previously unknown property of glass that a molten blob can be inflated by introducing a small amount of air into it. It was then adopted across the Roman Empire and has been in use since then. Glassblowing utilises the liquid structure of glass, the atoms being held together by strong chemical bonds in a disordered and random network, which means that molten glass is viscous enough to be blown and gradually hardens as it loses heat. This photograph shows a man working on a glass project after removing it from a kiln at Brooklyn Glass in New York City, United States. Photograph credit: Rhododendrites Recently featured: Guanaco Isabella I of Castile 2021 Western Kentucky tornado Archive More featured pictures

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