Jablonec, Czech Republic & Meissen, Germany

We visited Jablonec in the Czech Republic which is the home of the Czech glass bead industry. Czech molded glass beads are still being made by hand and we toured one of the factories there.
These are the glass rods the beads are made from.

The glass is heated and put into molds. Then the rough edges are removed by hand.

The beads are polished in 'cement' mixers with sand.

Then baked in an oven.
We also visited the Meissen porcelain factory which was pretty amazing. The porcelain there is also still made by hand. We saw a potter forming the cups and bowls, etc, with a foot powered wheel.

And a sculptor making the figurines.

And an artisan who painted the porcelain.

There were examples of the wide range of porcelain they produce everywhere.

Posted with Blogsy