We recently spent a wonderful long weekend visiting a friend in the South of Ireland. Because I love all things kitchen and entertaining, I couldn't resist a trip to the House of Waterford Crystal factory! We marveled at the beautiful, stunning pieces of crystal in the shop and their equally stunning prices before heading off on the tour where we saw first hand each step in the process of making Waterford crystal.
For every step of the process, a craftsman will train for 8-10 years to become a master at just that one job. Here are the blowers who start with a lump of melted glass and form it into individual vessels with their breath and skilled spinning of the tools. Slowly, and with great care, the lump begins to take shape.
The vessel is then spun and molded in the hands of another craftsman to form its shape and add any extra bits such as handles or spouts.
Once the craftsman is finished, the vessel is cooled, then sent on to quality control to be checked. Waterford Crystal only produces first class products. If any imperfections or irregularities are found, the piece is smashed and melted down again. You will never find Waterford Crystal "seconds" as only first class pieces are produced, and craftsman are not paid for any imperfect pieces they produce.
Pieces that pass quality control are then hand marked by an expert craftsman for cutting.
Once marked, pieces are sent to the cutting room, where each facet on the piece is cut by hand to create the sparkling, glittering creations that we know as Waterford crystal.
After cutting, each flawless piece is washed and polished and ready for sale.
Upon finishing the tour, we could understand in a new way why the price of Waterford crystal is so high! The years of training and apprenticeship required to become a master craftsman, the hours of skilled work that go into each pice of crystal, the high standard of quality and perfection required for all finished products, certainly mean that each piece is a masterpiece and worth a very high price!
Isn't it true that all masterpiece creations are of great value? And to think that as Christians, we are all works of art, being perfected and made beautiful by THE MASTER! He created us, formed us from lumps of raw material and blew life into us with a vision of the beautiful, unique masterpiece we would each become at the end of the process. With great care he molds us, forms our character, shapes our hearts, and creates facets in our personality which will reflect and refract His light to the world around. He will also one day present us to the Father faultless and without blemish when we are finally made perfect through his sacrifice and redemption in Glory!
Indeed, YOU and I are masterpieces in the making! On our own, just pieces of simple glass, but in the hands of the MASTER, beautiful crystal art works of great value! How will I reflect the light of my Creator today?
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