Evidence that "Optics" are an ancient tool can be found in the book, De Re Metallica, originally published in 1556 (the photos below are from Josh's 1621 edition). A detailed woodcut on page 456 shows all the main elements of a "glass house" from 500 years ago. Apart from the period garb, it looks pretty much like our present-day hotshop: furnace full of molten glass; artisans with blowpipes performing all the complex tasks done even now by Josh, Tucker and Zak; there's a guy keeping a tally of finished pieces; broken glass on the floor; a woman with a baby looking for the father of her child (happens all the time here); UPS guy with a box of glass on his back; folks in a nearby pub drinking beer from new glass flagons (wait, we don't have that... we should have that!); and there in the center of the page: a star-shaped Optic!
