Millefiore Water Pipe

Description

Millefiore Water Pipe

Millefiore is like Lite-Brite at 2500°F. While this is not an exhaustive step by step description, the following lets you understand how long and arduous a process mille making is.

A photo of the subject is broken down into a series of colored circles, like gigantic pixels. A cradle is used to hold color rods horizontally to match up to the color circles in the photo. The rods are stacked from bottom to top. When the photo is completely covered by rods, hose clamps are installed to hold everything together.

The bundle is slid into a large clear glass tube and warmed to working temperature. When working temp is reached, the tube / bundle is affixed into a lathe. One end is fitted with a vacuum to remove air during melt. The other end is sealed. Working under vacuum from the sealed end, bunsen burners and torches constantly increase heat. Eventually,  the colors melt and fuse into a glass version of the original image.

Care must be taken to slowly dissipate the core heat. First while still on the lathe and fairly maleable. Second, using a very slight incremental down ramp in the annealing oven. After a few days of down ramp, the bundle is now a solid log around 1000°F and is ready once again for the lathe.

Burners and Torches bring the log back up to magma-like working temperature. The turning of the lathe uses centripetal rotation force to maintain it’s shape. Slowly but surely, the end stocks of the lathe are separated away from each other. Stretching the log down makes a more usable size. Typical stretch is from 5 inch diameter down to 1 inch diameter depending on the length of the lathe bed.

After stretch and while still hot, the log is now referred to as cane. The cane is scored and snapped to more manageable sizes. Annealed again down to ambient temperature over a few days.

Larger mille is sliced by a glass saw and used in magnifier marbles while smaller diameter mille is typically ‘hot snapped’.

Sliced mille retains the image best, but wastes a fair amount during the slicing process (think sawdust while you cut wood). These are used on more expensive designs like waterpipes and bongs.

Snapped mille is most cost efficient unless you count all the halfing or blurring of images that occurs during a hot transfer. Snapped is used on handpipes and chillums.

The Millefiore Water Pipe stands 12″ to 14″ tall with a 4″ base. Fabricated with 100% Pyrex ( borosilicate ), the bong is durable and beautiful. Seven different 3/4″ magnifier marbles decorate the main body and provide unlimited visual interest, especially as you bake. Observe how angles of refraction and reflection cause the images behind the mag marbles to move, contort and flow as you finish that phat matching bowl of green.

Diffused 19/14 low profile downstem, matching 14mm Male flower bowl and 14mm Male quartz concentrate nail included.

Made in USA