See Grail, a dish.

Graal is a technique used in Swedish glass where a flashed or cased (cf) cup is annealed and designs are cut into the color or a clear cup is painted with enamels. The cup is then reheated and cased or gathered over so the color is buried under rather thick glass. Fairly risky as the hand/cold work may be lost during reheating. At least one Japanese artist puts gold leaf on the cold cup, marks tiny figures into the leaf, then reheats, gathers over, and cuts the piece, producing an astonishing effect - he loses about half his pieces.

Graal comes from the Latin word "gradalis" which means bowl or cup. According to the legend, "graal" was the bowl that was used to collect Christ's blood when he was crucified - the holy grail. The Graal technique was developed from overlay glass by Knut Bergqvist technically and Simon Gates artistically in 1916, both of Orrefors Glassworks. In addition, Fritz Blomqvist and Albert Ahlin contributed to the development of graal glass The first step is to produce the core. It consists of two or more layers of colored glass. After cooling, the core is worked by etching, grinding, polishing, or engraving. Another method is to paint the motif with asphalt paint and etch away the unwanted colored layers as with Fish Graal. The core is heated again to 400-500 degrees Celsius in order to fasten the core to the pipe and dipped in another layer of clear glass in order to preserve the design. Then it is blown into its final shape.