Daum answers to your questions
How do you make a sculpture in pâte-de-cristal? Is it normal to see little bubbles in the body of the piece?
Pâte-de-cristal is made thanks to the very ancient lost wax technique.
A negative mould is made from an original artist’s sculpture and coloured fragments of crystal are introduced into this mould following very precise rules.
The mould will then be fired for at least ten days and then broken, thus revealing the sculpture in pâte-de-cristal. The mould is broken every time hence each piece of Daum is truly unique.
The fact that bubbles are imprisoned in the pâte-de-cristal is completely normal. As the broken fragments of crystal (also called groisil) slowly blend and merge, a sort of bubbling process takes place in the matter almost making it seem alive.
This “champagne effect” reflects the light in a unique way and is an essential characteristic of pâte-de-cristal.