Printing house

A printing house is a small outbuilding of a residential property that was used for the production of simple glass jewelry . In this glass beads and related products, such as Christmas tree ornaments by pressing ( "pressing") of the lens blank into corresponding (water-cooled) of wood or iron molds made. In these production steps it was not absolutely necessary to completely melt the glass; It was sufficient to heat the starting material (often glass rods, strips or tubes) until it was soft enough to be deformed. Further production variants are shown for glass beads .

This method of production was typical of the glass jewelry industry in the Gablonz area from the late 19th century to the end of the Second World War , with printing works mostly being used as a sideline alongside farming or other gainful activities. It was also assigned to the area of home work , i.e. domestic work for the next largest industry. After the Second World War and the expulsion , these proceedings were taken from Gablonz to various areas of the Federal Republic of Germany, where these groups resettled, see p. u. for web links.

The fact that such production facilities were outsourced to a separate building was due to safety aspects: Molten glass is several hundred degrees hot and means a constant fire hazard, especially if the fires for heating the melt were fed with wood (from the surrounding forests).

Web links

• Printing works in post-war Germany in Trappenkamp (PDF; 136 kB)
• Printing works in post-war Germany in Neugablonz