Lauschaer glass and the deployment of the glass eyes production

    Glass is well known as a product in primitive form and with equal elements since 4000 years. The oldest attestations came from the year 758 about glass works at German ground. English - abbot named Lutbert send a letter to the Mainzer diocesan Lullo to send him makers of glass to England. It is proof for that, the first known glass works had stood in the beech woods of the Spessart.
For the glass-production had been important the wood for the melting of the glass and to the fabrication of the potash. This basis was assumed for anywhere Germany in the 15th century. There colossal forests covered the country. But for the glass production is it important, to have short transport ways to the other important elements lime and quartz sand. All those prerequisites were coexistent on the German highlands. In the result there from arise iron hammers, paper mills and also new glassworks and the industrial development in our region starts.
  The glass maker, Hans Greiner 1. , from Ebersbach-Nassach from homeland Schwaben, emigrated in the year 1525 to the Thuringian Langenbach near to Schleusingen. A great-grandson, Hans Greiner the IV. had been forced by decrease of the forest and increasing density of population, to emigrate into the valley of brook Lauscha. He edified together with the glassmaker Christoph Müller on Pappenheimer area, the glassworks called 'Marktiegelhütte Lauscha 1'. She had only few years existed, there it came to a quarrel with the mister from Pappenheim. They consult therefore the duke  Johann Casimir in the dukedom Sachsen /Coburg  with the request  to build a glass works. They applied themselves, duke Johann Casimir the Duchy of Sachsen /Coburg with the request to build on his estate a glassworks. The concession for the glassworks Lauscha II. carries the date from 1597/01/10 and that glassworks is termed as the ‘Mutterglashütte’ (mother glassworks), because exclusively glassmakers from Lauscha had built in the following decades along of the Rennsteig 20 glassworks and so also settlements.
It was produced in 17. and 18. century exclusively bull-glass (known as bull's eyes panes), glasses for chemists, glasses for wealthy citizen and for dukes. Too in Lauscha would built four new glassworks, supported by the opening up the coal heating. They formed the substructure of home-work in Lauscha. The glassmaker Johann Georg Greiner pulled 1760 the first glass tubes in the ‘Dorfglashütte’ (village glassworks). The deployment was necessary, because the number of citizens between 1781 and 1871 increased fivefold. Natural not all got work in the glassworks.
On incitation of the  trader for glass articles Johann Adam Greiner, which had got to know in the Rhineland the technique of ‘Arbeit vor der Lampe’ (work before a flame), one had start with this method of working in Lauscha. The concept ‘Arbeit vor der Lampe’ is today still general common. The glass tubes  became heated by a oil flame and could be deforms after softening of the glass. The air was supplied through a leather bag helped by hand. Natural they had made only small and very few articles with this technology, above all glass beads. With invention of the ‘Blasebalg’ (a big leather bag helped by feet) one starts with the continual and better air supply approximately to 1820.
The  differential manufacture of lamp blowing glass starts after the construction of a gas works in the year 1867. A few glass blowers manufactured instead the petty glass beads bigger glass balls and fix those on their Christmas-trees and so became born the glassy Christmas-tree ornaments. It has developed in its variety to a symbol for a festive ornamented Christmas-tree.
    One found out, that those new processing offers a lot more possibilities and so started ably glass blowers to create nature and environment in glass. With it acted to private leisure creation at first . But about 70 families had made to the end of the 19. century glass toys in Lauscha for the Sonneberger publisher. They had blown out glass tubes, in dependence on tin shapes, became same naturalistic formed and with glue colour lifelike paints. The most of this products reached probably never children hands, there it was very fragile. Beside cheaper porcelain toys became tendered already, so that this source of employment lose on meaning. The adults utilized the produces actual as room - and dinner table neat. With knobs on gained the making from genuine toys, by example pots and pans for the doll house for long years on meaning.
  In this time developed, parallel to the artistically formation of glass, the making of doll eyes as well the artificial human eyes.

Here you find a chronicle of the development from Lauscha until to the year 1924.

 Professor. Dr. Adelmann of the university Würzburg visited 1832 the city Sonneberg and saw, that one put in doll eyes from Lauscha . This brought him on the idea, doll eyes to behalf for prophetical purpose with eye disabled persons. It
succeed him  to convince  from his idea the glass blower Ludwig Müller - Uri and he starts intensive to
experimentalism. It must have been a difficult undertaking, to develop these new product with at the time existing possibilities. ‘Beinglas’ came to inset, a relative brittle material and if thereby was  worked already with Blasebalg isn't known. Anyway it succeed him to produce the first human glass eyes in the German speaking room and he come off therewith the detachment French products from this kind. Ludwig Müller - Uri developed the iris drawing with verifiable colours as the complete new technique, with it become the individually colour drawing of the iris a lifelike emulation.
He voyaged after Paris on recommendation of an businessman, to get information by the French eye artists over whose
technique. One was well informed there over the deployment of the German artist eyes from glass and granted him no one insight on the manufacturing method. It succeed him still to find out, that the iris was signed with thin coloured glass rods on the founding from lead glass. These glass was for the human eyes still worst qualified as that in Lauscha usual 'Beinglas'.
 After the return from Ludwig Müller - Uri starts in co-operation with the Dorfglashütte a time of the intensively
researching to find better eligibly glass material for the eyes. It succeed this to smelt the Glasmachermeister Christian
Müller - Pathle such a glass, that is became known under the denotation ‘Kryolithglas’. It disposed over an homogeneously surface, it is tissue neutral and resistant towards tears liquid. That can get any colour for drawing the sclera lifelike. Therefore it is well qualified because of pussier and lissomely for the eye production.
 With the introduction of the gas works, the change of the burner and further development of the Blasebalg could be expand the styling of human eyes determining and so it has full received his meaning eye of art from glass over 160 years.
 The deployment of new glasses had natural also a determining meaning for the fabrication of other types of eyes.
Doll eyes became produced at first from the already mentioned Beinglas and passed close to the actual glass ball only
from a dark blue iris without further drawing and without pupil of the eye. Now different iris colours could used, the iris drawing with thread rods and also the pupil of the eye become configured.
How already mentioned, different jobs developed in the range of the glass eye manufacturing, maker of animal eyes, the
maker of doll eyes, the maker of figure eyes and the maker of human eyes. They all had transmitted to the juniors special tools and expedients, the largest treasure on the families - the hand craft abilities. That is so left within in the essential today time. On the vocational school of glass in Lauscha gives not a special training for making eyes until now.
My father Fritz Greiner-Petter was one of the few time witnesses, that has experience  the mass production from glass eyes for the dolls at the beginning of the twentieth century.

 " I’d like to learn actual porcelain painter, but my parents couldn't pay for the apprenticeship and I must be faithful the tradition of family . My grandparents worked as makers of figure eyes, my parents as makers of doll eyes and the brothers of my father as makers of human eyes. I had started already from age 10, how at the time usual, to the subsistence contribute and became on the difficultly craft through grandfather and father coaching. I learnt from 1927-1930 in the Lauschaer vocational school of glass the job of the glass art designer and modified at home think abilities as one doll - and figure eyes maker.
My parents manufactured predominant simple doll eyes. Only in essentially valuable dolls came at the time already
crystal glass eyes. We specialized us on that after. To our assortment belonged furthermore eyes with holes for the flirty eyes and oval eyes. I developed together with my father the making of reflex eyes to the patent right. Those doll eyes
negotiate the impression, that the doll look at viewers always from each point with these eyes. Our family had lost those special method of the eyes making on the confused of the war and the attached years, in which we had not produced doll eyes. I had worked new in my olden job with upswing the glass works on the Fifties and within of four weeks get title of master craftsman as one glass art designer and figure eyes. Doll eyes are no more asked on this time, there  the plastic eyes are topical in the toy industry. I produces therefore animals and vases from glass.
 As the Wall 1989 fell, solved soon the ‘Kombinat  Glaskunst Lauscha '. My daughter, Inge Kanis, and my son in law,
graduated. Engineer. for the glass / ceramics, lost as a result your work. We have had two possibilities, to capitulate or to consider us on old traditions and begin a new start with united strength.
 A businessman from Franken recommended us to take up the making of doll eyes and my experiences educated therefore
natural an expected founding. There I am the last master for the fabrication from doll - and figure eyes, teach it
to my daughter, grandson, his wife and our home workers“-.
 Worse luck is defunct my father at 07.09.1999. But I lead  further our  family business ‘Kanis-Augen’ at his significations.
We've got a name with by this time 4900 bigger and smaller Clients of doll makers all over the world. Our trump is the variety of the offer, above all the high quality and the traditional handicrafts. We manufacture eyes to your specifications too.
 The material, for the from us prepared eyes, comes almost exclusively from the ‘Farbglashütte’ (colour glass works) in Lauscha. There they produce handy made coloured tubes and rods and that’s the basis for the variety of the eyes.
 You can see those traditional fabrication of all glass products in Lauscha. The best time  to look is the first and second weekend of Advent each year.