Crimps

What it is

Crimps are tweezers or jacks whose ends carry shaped plates instead of points. Murano’s glass museum lists rigadin crimps among the forms of borsella, giving “an embossing effect like the ribbing on leaves, the shape of flower petals etc.”⁠^⁠[1]

How it’s used

Squeezed on hot glass, the plates press their pattern into it. The Conciatore lexicon describes many traditional Murano crimps by what they make:⁠^⁠[2]

• Borsee a rigadin, fine-ribbed or “straight line” crimps, with fine, shallow, close-set grooves.
• Borsee a gatolo, ribbed crimps, named for the number of grooves (gatoi) on the plates.
• Borsee a spina de pese, “fish-bone” crimps, now mostly used for leaves.
• Borsee da capar, scallop crimps, for wavy edges and lips.
• Borsee a geiosia, crimps with a crossed pattern, named after the Venetian lattice window screen.
• Borsee da oci, eye crimps, with two short cylinders for pressing in the eyes of small animals on goblet stems.
• Borsee a squeoto or a scugier, spoon crimps, with two nesting half-spheres.

Carlo Donà’s Murano catalog shows how varied the family is, with crimps for prunts, morise, eyes, lines, rose petals, leaves, and chandelier leaves.⁠^⁠[3]

History

The names above are Venetian. Rigadin comes from riga, “line”;⁠^⁠[2] gelosia (Venetian geiosia) was the woven screen put over windows, from geloso, “jealous”.⁠^⁠[2]