Paperweights (1956)

M/S and C/U of Frank Hill sitting at a workbench and placing numerous tiny tubes of coloured glass into some small round stone or wooden containers. Commentator tells us Frank is keeping alive the art of making milliaflore paperweights at a glass works in Wealdstone, London.
Another man with a long pole takes a red hot piece of molten glass from a furnace and hands it to Frank who drops it into one of the round containers, then, with the pole still attached, starts shaping the glass and removes the container. Rolling the pole back and forth over a metal bar, he files the end of the paperweight into shape (this is the base of the paperweight).
We then see Frank taking another piece of molten glass out of the furnace and moulding it into a circular shape with the help of some wooden (or stone?) cups and a pincer-like tool. He places this on top of the paperweight we saw being shaped earlier and cuts the glass with the pincers; this forms the top of the paperweight. Frank rolls the pole back and forth with the weight on the end, and polishes the top with a piece of newspaper.
Frank knocks the paperweight off the end of the pole onto a table where another one sits. C/U of the finished paperweight; the glass tubes give a floral effect. M/S of various paperweights displayed on some red satin. C/Us of various styles and designs of paperweights made at the factory.
Note: the name of the glass works is Whitefriars Glass Works.
FILM ID:39.21
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