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GLASS VESSEL SINKS

In bathroom design, the vessel sinks are the hottest trend to hit home improvement, bathroom remodeling and design. Vessel Sinks create a decorative mood that set the tone for the entire bathroom. Installing a vessel sink can instantly change the look from traditional to contemporary.

The origin and use of glass goes back almost 5,000 years. Archaeologists have discovered evidence of glass objects dating as early as 3,000 B.C. The ancient Greeks used glass in their buildings. Historical records from the period refer to baths and rooms lined with glass. Window glass dates from the end of the third century. Today, the glass making industry is very sophisticated. Glaziers use a wide variety of glass, depending upon the functions that the glass must perform. What Is Glass? Basically, glass is sand-a very high quality silica sand, to which other materials are added. The resulting mixture is called a batch. Some of the other materials included in the batch are salt cake, limestone, dolomite, feldspar, soda ash and powdered cullet. Cullet is broken glass. It can be left over from a previous batch or from the edges that remain after a batch of glass has been formed and cut to size. Adding cullet helps the batch melt more easily.

Types of Glass Sinks
Tempered glass is moderate in both price and weight. There are many color and sizes to choose from. Glass is considered a contemporary look. And glass is virtually maintenance free - you can use a standard glass cleaner or mild soap and water.

Cold Glass -- The cold glass type means that the design on the glass is being done while the glass is at room temperature. This produces a variety of bathroom glass sinks, such as stained glass, mosaic glass, and etched or carved glass. Mosaic glass is produced when colored pieces of glass are placed into an annealed glass bowl. Then the surface is coated to have a smooth surface. Colored glass sinks are produced by mixing colored powders such as blue Cobalt Oxide into the heated glass at high temperatures.

Warm Glass - Warm glass means that the glass is exposed at temperatures between 1,100 to 1,700 degrees Fahrenheit. From the point of view of human safety, these temperatures cannot be considered warm. But based on the nature of the glass, these temperatures are not enough to completely melt it. The warm glass type produces bathroom glass sinks such as fused glass and colored glass. Fused glass is the result of fusing together several pieces of glass forming a piece that appears unbroken. The final piece is slumped to create the shape of a vessel found in bathroom glass sinks.

Hot Glass - Hot glass means that the glass is placed in a furnace set at 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit. The glass melts at this temperature. Hot glass produces bathroom glass sinks such as blown glass and cast glass. The blown glass is produced when the glassmaker blows into a rod or a pipe. In this blowing process, no two bathroom glass sinks will appear the same. Cast glass is produced when melted glass is placed on top of a textured surface in order to cool down. The cool hardened glass will show the imprint of the textured surface.

Durability -- The bathroom glass sink is the vogue in home designs. Glass is clean, sophisticated, and versatile. The versatility of glass allows manufacturers to produce hundreds of bathroom glass sinks that have unique designs and colors. But some homeowners shy away from glass because they falsely believe that glass sinks are dangerous. Glass, after all, breaks easily. Fortunately, technology has reached a level that can produce glass of high durability.

Glass vessel sinks - options include clear, colored, double-layered, and tempered.