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When reviewing artisans to source our showcase crystal, the choice was clear. Heritage Irish Crystal is one of the few remaining crystal companies that still produces crystal products with over 30% lead content. While many other crystal companies have ventured into other areas and lost focus on their core product, Heritage Irish Crystal, a relatively new company of 11 years, chose to focus instead on the fine quality workmanship that crystal makers had in the past. There is a drastic visible difference between a piece of Heritage Irish Crystal and a piece from any of the larger manufacturers. You will see a sparkle emanating from the crystal that catches your eye and really makes the piece stand out. Heritage Irish Crystal is a company dedicated to preserving a tradition of handcrafting the finest quality full lead crystal.

Heritage Irish Crystal is located at Bilberry in Waterford City, Ireland, where crystal manufacturing has been a way of life for over 200 years. With a highly skilled workforce, we continue training new generations to guarantee an exceptional quality crystal that can only be achieved from the skill of man. To help you share our appreciation of the art; we have included this step by step account of how we create our unique crystal for you and future generations to enjoy.

Creating Art:
The raw materials of mainly silica sand, lead oxide and potassium carbonate are melted in one of our single pot furnaces. Each pot contains approximately 600 kilograms of batch (mixture) and is melted overnight, ready to work each morning. The painstaking process then begins…

Blowers remove a ball of molten glass on the end of 5' hollow blowpipes, which is worked into the desired shape. (A blowing team will use up the contents of a pot in one working day. In the evening it will be filled again for use the following day.)

Following the blowing process, each piece is tastefully decorated by the painstaking skill of the glass cutters, using diamond tipped wheels.

A unique method of fine finish chemical polishing is the final step in this long process. This step, like all others is executed by hand. A time consuming procedure to be sure, but one that preserves the integrity of the cuts so that light falling on sharply defined angles is perfectly refracted into a myriad of colours, portraying a diamond like brillance.

Blown by mouth…Shaped, Moulded, Cut and Polished by Hand…
Such is the essence of Heritage Irish Crystal.

Cuts of Heritage Irish Crystal
Cathedral Series
Cricklewood Series
Shannon Series

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