Glass

Glass includes drinking vessels (drink-ware) and tableware. Glass is an amorphous (non-crystalline) sold material. Glasses are typically brittle and optically transparent. The history of creating glass can be traced back to 3500 BCE in Mesopotamia. There are 6 types of glass:

• Fused silica glass, vitreous silica glass: used for high temperature applications such as furnace tubes, melting crucibles.
• Soda-lime-silica glass, window glass: Used for windows, containers, light bulbs, tableware.
• Sodium borosilicate glass, Pyrex:  They are commonly used for reagent bottles, optical components and household cookware.
• Aluminosilicate glass; Extensively used for fiberglass, used for making glass-reinforced plastics (boats, fishing rods, etc.). Also for halogen bulb glass.
• Lead-oxide glass, crystal glass: %. Has a high refractive index, making the look of glassware more brilliant (crystal glass). It also has a high elasticity, making glassware ‘ring’.
• Oxide glass: %. Extremely clear glass, used for fiber-optic wave guides in communication networks. Cameo glass was revived for the first time since the Romans and pieces were in neo-classical style. Art Nouveau movement made great use of glass with René Lalique, Émile Gallé, and Daum of Nancy from French wave of the movement. cameo glass, and also using lustre techniques.

There are other forms of glass including:

Mary Gregory (1856–1908) was an American artist known for her paintings of Victorian era children etchings on various coloured glass decoration ranges at the Boston and Sandwich Glass Company in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. For more information on Mary Gregory glass, see my original post.

 

 

Ruby Glass; (aka Cranberry Glass, Gold Ruby Glass or Rubino Oro as it is known by glass workers) is a red glass made by adding gold(III) oxide to molten glass.  However, tin, in the form of stannous chloride, is sometimes added in tiny amounts as a reducing agent.  The gold chloride is made by dissolving gold in a solution of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid (aqua regia). The glass is typically hand blown or molded. For more information see my ruby glass post.

Carnival glass is moulded or pressed glass, with a patterned shiny metallic, or ‘iridescent‘ surface shimmer. The keys to its ‘appeal’ were that it looked superficially like the very much finer and very much more expensive blown iridescent glass by Tiffany, Loetz and others and also that the cheerful bright finish caught the light even in dark corners of the home. A wide range of colours and colour combinations were used but the most common colours accounted for a large proportion of output, so scarce colours can today command very high prices on the collector market. Find out more on this post.

Stained glass, (here’s an example by Leonard French), Lead-light, ships in a bottle, paperweights, Lalique, Murano glassware and marbles.

 

 

René Jules Lalique (6 April 1860, Ay, Marne – 5 May 1945, Paris) was a French glass designer known for his creations of perfume bottles, vases, jewellery, and chandeliers amongst other items.  According to Wikipedia,  he studied at the Sydenham Art College, and on return to France, he worked as a freelance artist, designing pieces of jewellery for French jewelers, Cartier, [Boucheron] and others. In 1885, he opened his own business and designed and made his own jewellery and other glass pieces. By 1890, Lalique was recognized as one of France’s foremost Art Nouveau jewellery designers; in the 1920s, he became noted for his work in the Art Deco style. See my original post.

Many people collect perfume bottles. Here’s an example of one from the French House of Jean Patou – Caline and another from Chanel.

 

 

 

Feeling a little weighed down? Imagine life as a paperweight.  These days, glass paperweights are widely produced, collected and appreciated as works of art. They were originally produced in France, ca. 1845 and their popularity rose during the mid 20th  …Continue reading →

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