„ The glass-blower […] first dips the pipe into the molten glass material, a piece sticks to it, which whilst rolled on the floor he makes into a ball. Then he blows this up somewhat and sees whether the glass is stuck well. If it is not enough for the intended end, he dips his pipe again. Now then, if he wants to make a bottle for example, he blows up the glass into a hollow ball, to which, by swinging it around his head, he gives an elongated shape. When this has been done the assistant, who is the glass-shaper, takes over the blowing with a pair of tongs; whilst the bubble is being turned continuously, he forms the bottle completely, pushes its bottom in and vertically pushes the top onto the block to flatten it. Then he touches the point where the bottle is stuck onto the pipe with a cold iron, cracking it off as a result. The block is a piece of wood, which besides flat parts has round indents as well and is either used to flatten or round the glass bubble, which is why it is kept wet all the time. […] After cracking off, the glass-shaper gathers a drop of glass from the pot with a bit iron, he makes a thread out of it, which is wrapped around the neck of the bottle a few time thus making a thick lip, then the finished bottle is cooled down slowly. If the bubble reddens during the making, namely cools too much, he heats it up again until it is white hot in a separate fire hole on the furnace, while turning continuously. During the finer, so called clear glass works, the glass-shaper […] sits in a chair, whilst blowing the bubble and turning the pipe on the long arms of the bench. The handles of the dish as well as other additions such as the lip, are stuck on separately because the liquid, pastry-like glass material can be shaped easily, and the parts bind together well. Everything depends on the good eye and the skill of the craftsman. The skilled glass blower makes a pretty object in a shorter time than is needed to describe the process. Bottles and many other more common objects, which are made by blowing, need only turning, swinging and pushing etc. To blow glass naturally you need good lungs, but there are ways to spare them. If the blower steps next to the fire with the blown bubble and seals the end of the pipe, the heat expands the air that is stuck inside even more, as a result of which the bubble will increase in size by itself. Moreover, the glass-blower works with steam. He blows a little water into the bubble which he wants to enlarge. This turns to steam immediately and with the pressure spares the glass-blower from blowing. The main thing is that the end of the pipe has to be sealed well. Besides other tools, shears are used frequently because the hot glass, just like lead, can be cut easily. The tongs, shaped like tweezers, are used to turn a lip up or down, whilst the simple punty irons, a meter long and the thickness of a finger […] replace the use of fingers to touch the red hot glass. A drop of glass is gathered onto the punty iron and held to the right place, where it sticks immediately. Finally with a small tap the glass object is cracked off the iron. This is how the sharp, rough ‘belly button’ is made, thus the punty iron is also called a belly button iron.”

János Frecskay. The Book of Inventions. Knowledge from the Fields of Craft and Industry. Volume I Bp 1877, pp 249-250