So i was watching an interesting episode of NOVA on gothic cathedrals and how they are designed structurally. However making stained glass windows was a side topic. I had always wondered how colored glass was made. It turns out that the same techniques of mixing metals with glass results in color once the glass is super heated. On more than one occasion, i've suggested adding additional metals in the earth in order to make new materials. Looks like yet another reason would be to add colored glass. Also seems like not a lot of metal needs to be added. In the Nova episode I watched, glassmakers were making large batches of glass and removing a small ball of glass and rolled it over a thin sheet of shaved metal (far thinner than a metal plate in-game, like aluminum foil almost. Perhaps one plate could be used to make 16 units of glass. Just a thought
On a side note, I assume colored threads are made with plant extracts ( I think minecraft does this for glass as well.. ofcourse we know Minecraft is far from realistic).
Anyways, looks like we already have the metals for making: Red (gold), Blue and Violet (oh wait.. wasn't cobalt removed?), yellow and amber (sulfur), green and brown (iron), blue and green and red (copper). Whatever ingredient used (a plate or metal shavings perhaps) can also be used to make fireworks. each metal produces a different color when burned.
Metals Used to Impart Color to Glass
| Cadmium Sulfide | Yellow |
| Gold Chloride | Red |
| Cobalt Oxide | Blue-Violet |
| Manganese Dioxide | Purple |
| Nickel Oxide | Violet |
| Sulfur | Yellow-Amber |
| Chromic Oxide | Emerald Green |
| Uranium Oxide | Fluorescent Yellow, Green |
| Iron Oxide | Greens and Browns |
| Selenium Oxide | Reds |
| Carbon Oxides | Amber-Brown |
| Antimony Oxides | White |
| Copper Compounds | Blue, Green, Red |
| Tin Compounds | White |
| Lead Compounds | Yellow |
| Manganese Dioxide | A "decoloring" agent |
| Sodium Nitrate | A "decoloring" agent |
