The process of decorating cold glass by removal of material can be done in several ways: direct engraving (wheel engraving and etching) or indirect engraving (acid etching and sandblasting). Direct engraving is practiced using either a diamond point, the oldest technique; an electric grinder, technique replacing the diamond point; or a grinding wheel. Wheel engraving is practiced using little cutting wheels made of copper, lead, carborundum, stone and cork, mounted on a lathe, electrically powered today. The glass is cut by the spinning of the wheel in conjunction with abrasive powders (pumice or carborundum), and regularly dampened with water or sometimes oil.

Wheel engraving is a very old technique derived from the art of engraving precious stones, already mastered by the glassmakers of Antiquity and which gave rise to such masterpieces as the celebrated Portland vase and the famous diatreta vases of virtuoso decor and open networks of lattice. Later, in XVIIth century Europe, under the influence of Gaspar Lehmann, glassmaker for the emperor Rodolph II, Bohemian glassmakers carried this art to new heights of graphic expressiveness. Engraving also allows for the systematization of a surface like in the process called “Battuto” by the Venetians, or “martele” by the brothers Daum during the Art Nouveau period. This process involves the removing of little lenticular chips of glass and suggests an aesthetic kinship with metalworking. This type of engraving was repopularized by the Venetian glass artist Carlo Scarpa in the 1940’s.

In recent years, contemporary artists Baldwin and Guggisberg have seized this Venetian technique of “inciso” and “battuto” to decorate their seductive cased glass installations where brightly colored anthropomorphic figures are arranged in elegant processions like “cortigiane e guardiani” (1997).

MATCHAM JOnathan, DREISER Peter, “ The Techniques of Glass Engraving”,Batsford LTD, Londres,1982 BRAY Charles, “Dictionary of Glass Materials and Techniques” A§C Black, Londres1995 OLIVIE Jean-Luc, PETROVA Sylva, “Verres de Bohême 1400-1989”, Flammarion, Musée des Arts décoratifs, Paris, 1990