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The History Behind Pate-De-Verre

Pate de verre 12-steps Process:

Pate de Verre Video | Step 1-3 | Step 4-6 | Step 7-9 | Step 10-12

THE CREATION PROCESS OF LIULI
via Pate de Verre Technique

Exclusive 12-steps Glass Art Process by LIULI Crystal Art

"To Continuously Create Art for the Good of the Heart"

Pate-de-verre is one of many techniques used in creating Liuli art. It translates to ‘paste of glass.’ The process involves casting a wax sculpture in plaster, melting out that wax and adding glass ingredients to the leftover negative space. The advantage of this technique is the potential for incredible detail. Experimentation in pate-de-verre is constantly expanding the creative realm of Liuli.

From the tiniest feature, Liuli art is born. Each speaks to something palpable - an incredibly vivid and vibrant heritage and culture. Through art, specifically the pate-de-verre process, we can continue telling stories of the past, which are, in turn, preserved for posterity. At LIULI Crystal Art, the hands of skilled artists work almost preternaturally to craft incredibly eloquent and lucid contemporary pieces, indelibly etched into time.

The Liuli pate-de-verre technique involves a complex twelve-step process per creation. Each step must be performed without error to prevent breakage, irregular air pockets or impurities.

Pate-de-verre 12-steps Process:
Pate-de-Verre Video | Step 1-3 | Step 4-6 | Step 7-9 | Step 10-12
The 12 steps:
  1. Design and sculpting
  2. Silicone molding
  3. Infusion of molten wax
  4. Shedding of silicon mold
  5. Wax form refinement, removing imperfections
  6. Plaster molding
  7. Removal of wax with steam
  8. Choosing color and kiln firing
  9. Heat at 1,400 degrees Celsius, re-firing
  10. Removal of plaster mold
  11. Refining and polishing
  12. Quality inspection, and etched with limited edition number

Like the adversity, difficulty, challenges, and toils faced by those figures and mythological beings of the legends of China, so, too, this glasswork is forged via exposure to intense elements - specifically heat - which like the radiance of China and its culture, is cultivated and evolves, rising to an improved and heightened level of clarity and lucidness. This glass molding technique can involve three different practices or types, one including glass paste, the other powdered glass, and the final crushed glass or cullet. Providing incredibly smooth and transparent quality glass, this process is continually being utilized and expanded upon for increasingly greater results.

The History Behind Pate-De-Verre

In the 19th century, the French revived lost-wax casting, a lost-art dating back three thousand years to ancient Egypt. The technique was resurrected during the Art Nouveau period, becoming the catalyst for modern European Liuli art.

According to known artifacts, the Chinese mastery of the technique dates back to the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD). However, the art was lost after this period and became a regretful void in the timeline of Chinese history. Pate-de-verre did not reappear in the country until 1987 when LIULI revived the lost-art and in turn, Chinese Liuli. Because of it, there are over one hundred Liuli workshops in the Asian world that use pate-de-verre nowadays.

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