The Netherlands Neon Tour - De Graaf Glassworks

Photos and Narrative by Tom Unger

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De Graaf Glassworks, Ameide, The Netherlands

(34) The shop, managed by Jaap de Graaf, has five lathe stations mostly for creating scientific and art glass pieces. A simple, but clever cooling rack sits on the table in the foreground. [ View Picture ]

(35) Two of the shops four ovens. These ovens mostly used for annealing small pieces. On top of the oven on the right are a set of spirals that the shop routinely makes on the lathes for medical purposes. (And that would be our friend Dirk Boonstra in the background.)
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(36) The compact, stainless steel manifold. Note the 'ball' shaped stopcocks.
[View Picture ]

(37) The primary annealing oven for neon units at the shop. The oven is quite deep, is heated by coils on the inner side walls and has movable rods that the glass rests on. When large, curved units are needed, blocks are stacked in the oven to create the appropriate curve. Long pieces of glass are laid over the blocks and the oven is heated. As the heat rises, the glass bends and sags to fit the curve, thus producing a seamlessly bent curve.
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