The term means "glass paste" in French and refers to a casting technique for making objects by grinding glass into a fine powder, adding a binder to create a paste, and adding a fluxing medium to facilitate melting. The paste is brushed or tamped into a mold, dried, and fused by firing. After annealing, the object is removed from the mold and finished by cold working processes.
While glass pastes have been used since ancient Egyptian times by glassmakers, pâte de verre, as it is known in modern times, came out of late 19th century France. Artists such as Henry Cros, Gabriel Argy-Rousseau, and François Décorchemont brought the use of glass paste back into vogue and it is still highly popular today.
This LibGuide is a selective list of resources. Many more on the topic can be found by searching the library's online catalog or by contacting a reference librarian through our Ask a Glass Question service.
Brief overview of the technique from The Corning Museum of Glass website.
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