English Muffle was originally produced by Chance Brothers in England until they went out of business in the 1930s. In the 1980s Peter Foster, an insurance executive from Adelaide, Australia, was looking for a hobby in anticipation of retirement. He settled on restoring lead lights and stained glass windows and along this path he run into some challenges.

   Peter found out that there was a tremendous amount of the original English Muffle glass (produced by Chance Brothers) in his restoration projects. At first he was able to find some of the needed glass at the salvage yards. This source did not last very long and he had to find the glass somewhere else.

   A glass manufacturer in New Zealand agreed to make the glass for him, after he was able to get the texture roll made by another New Zealand manufacturer. In the beginning of 1987 the first sheets were made but unfortunately the stock market crash in October 1987 put the New Zealand glass manufacturer out of business.

   Peter Foster did not give up and was able to retrieve his roller from the glass manufacturer and contacted Wissmach Glass to see if they had an interest in producing English Muffle. A few phone calls later he got himself a ticket and brought the English Muffle roll (they are made from steel and are heavy) to Paden City. What he did not consider was that our rolling machine was a lot bigger and the roll he brought did not fit. We agreed to send a blank roll to the company that made Peter Fosters original English Muffle roll in New Zealand and the rest is history. Wissmach glass was able to duplicate Chance Brothers original 32 colors and Peter was able to continue with his hobby.