Gutny craft

Gutny craft is the manual manufacture of glass, glass making. Special glass melting furnaces were called “gutas” (from the German “Hutte” – smelter), and the glass made in them was called “gutny glass”. It is believed that man-made glass was discovered by chance, as a by-product of other crafts – pottery, in particular. In ancient times clay products were fired in simple pits dug in sand, whereas straw, reed and firewood served as fuel. The resulting ash (alkali) was turned into a vitreous mass upon high-temperature contact with the sand. As it is known, sand, lime and alkali – organic (plant ash) or inorganic (soda ash) – were long used as the initial raw materials for the manufacture of glass. Compounds of copper, cobalt and manganese were used as dye-wares.