Our territory, where Amarzo has its headquarters and its laboratories, has a long tradition of artisan glassworks: just think that in the territory of Valdelsa the glass production has developed from the sixteenth century onwards and that Colle Val D'Elsa has been nicknamed the "Bohemia of Italy" because here is produced 13% of the crystal exported abroad and 90% of the crystal destined for the Italian market.
How to make stained glass
The processing of transparent glass involves the use of three raw materials: sand, quartz and silica, which at high temperatures melt (or better to say "glaze") forming glass; but if we want to obtain colored glasses, just take an extra step, that is add to this processing of metal salts (chemically defined as metal oxides and/ or sulfates) to be able to obtain any color you want.
Not all salts, which give the desired color, are however usable for catering, but only some that are neither toxic nor harmful to health; that is why our raw materials are only a few colors among the many available for glass. In fact, the raw materials to which we of Amarzo give new life are mostly bottles coming from activities in the catering sector of our area, which would otherwise be destined for destruction.
Therefore we can find ourselves working with transparent bottles, because they contained white wine or water or colored glass bottles, because they contained red or sparkling wines to be preserved in case of oxidation or wines destined for aging.
Here are the most popular colors for bottles (which you can find in the products of our shop):
Green Empoli: thanks to the high percentage of iron oxide present in the sands of rivers and coasts of Tuscany, it takes on the characteristic dark green color, still processed with artisanal techniques. Thanks to this color, precious Tuscan PDO products such as red wine and oil are protected from sunlight and stored for a long time.
Amber yellow or brownish yellow: for catering, this glass has inside iron oxide mixed with sulfur to give this characteristic delicate color, like that of our Malvasia glasses.
Ivory black: used for chamapagne and DOPG products, this glass has inside various metal salts not dangerous for health, and the best known is cobalt-manganese, which gives a strong and elegant color, like the one we find in our Barbera jug.
For more information on our 100% recycled glass products, Made in Italy, with a refined Tuscan design, contact us.
