kybearfuzz | The Waterford Crystal Factory (Reply)

The Waterford Crystal Factory in Waterford, Ireland
click the above photo or any of the others to see more

The highlight of my day was visiting the Waterford Crystal factory here in Waterford. This is a lengthy post with multiple photos, so I put it behind a cut for the uninterested.

It's a good two mile hike to the factory from the Quay (pronounced "key") in Waterford. Given the way I've been eating lately (my diet is blown to bits), I needed the exercise. I stopped a took a photo of the 12th century wall that used to surround the city on the way. It's amazing that it still stands in parts of the city.

Anyway, I got the factory with a few minutes to spare before the tour started, so there are some shots of the crystal post box, the harp and a few other pieces that line the visitors area. The tour started and we took a bus to the main factory area. Flash photography was allowed except for one stop, which was great.

This the seahorse logo for Waterford Crystal. According to our tour guide, the logo has a seahorse as it's part of the Waterford Crest, describing the sea faring history of the city. The upper crests on the seahorse's head represent the cuts that they make in the crystal itself. The dual rings represent the 200 years they have existed and the crests around the seahorse's tail form the shape of the shamrock, a symbol of Ireland.

The first area we visited was the crystal blowing/forming area, full of furnaces, iron molds and guys in shorts. The crystal formula is a secret but contains silicon and is a lead based crystal.

The crystal is formed by superheating the molten crystal in a furnace until it is fluid. It is then blown and formed into a lengthened bubble and placed into an iron cast mold where the operator blows into the crystal bubble to form fit the mold. It takes eight years of apprenticeship to learn to do this properly. The operators here work on the quality-per-piece method, meaning if the quality is bad, they don't get paid for the piece.

The final rough crystal is quality inspected and then marked for cutting. Marking the crystal in the pattern allows the cutters to have a reference point for cutting specific shapes into the crystal.

Again, the cutters are apprenticed and trained for 8 to 10 years. If the quality of their work is not up to par, they are not paid for the individual piece they worked on. There are no seconds at Waterford. If a piece is not up to par, it is destroyed and the crystal is recycled.

The cut pieces are also quality inspected before they are ready to go. The area that takes the most expertise is the sculpting department. Depending on the intricacy of the work they are doing, it may take weeks or months to complete a piece. This is the one area where flash photography was not allowed as it could distract the sculptors, but non-flash photography was fine.

This is the master engraver who was working this Saturday. He was inspired to create a 9-11 work from photographs that he saw. One of the other cutters stopped to talk to me after hearing my American accent and told me that the red-head above had gotten permission to do a small piece that eventually became a much larger set as shown above. The larger photo and a close up is in the photo gallery. Several examples of the engraving the company does is below. According to our tour guide, the engravers are encouraged to invent new designs and develop new images for use at work in addition to their regular engraving duties.

The factory also does specialty pieces, trophies for sports events. According to the tour guide, these pieces are made using wooden molds instead of iron ones as they are limited works and the iron molds are expensive. The wooden molds are used to make three or four of the same design before they tend to burst into flames from the molten crystal. One is used for the award, one is kept as a reference, and one piece is kept "just in case" something happens along the way. A large trophy can easily cost tens of thousands of dollars.

After the tour, I visited the showroom to see the pieces on sale. It was impressive. A chandelier may cost up to $10,000. Some may cost more. They did have several smaller items for under 100 Euro. I bought a seahorse broach for my mom at $40. I didn't really see anything for me except for postcards (yeah, I'm cheap). I did a quick video since everyone seemed to like the first one.

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Geez, what is it with these preview shots??? I look like Freddy Mercury...

After the visit, I walked to the local movie theater to see a flick and then crashed back at my hotel. I was planning on visiting the Kilkenny Castle tomorrow, but I heard that the castle is furnished with lots of period pieces and they'll actually take cameras from people to prevent any photography, so I may pass and see some more local stuff tomorrow instead.

Okay, I'm really tired now and heading to bed. I hope everyone had a great weekend!