|
|
 |
| Glossary of Glass Terminology |
 |
|
|
|
ACID ETCHED
GLASS: A layer glass is eaten away by hydrofluoric acid
usually into an masked off area forming a specific design. This leaves a matte finish and
is usually a much lighter color to white appearance.
|
AMBERINA
GLASS: Is a Collectable Art Glass. Was first developed by Joseph Locke at the New England Glass Company, in the USA, and
was patented by Locke in 1883. After 1888 Amberina glass was made by the Libbey Glass Company.
Today it is made by contemporary glass works such as Boyd in the USA.
It is a "heat sensitive" glass, which varies in shades of
color from amber at the bottom to red at the top. This shading
effect is from reheating the top part of the glass before allowing it to cool. Amberina glass contains a precipitate of colloidal gold
just like Gold Ruby Glass, which is heat sensitive and turns red at the right temperature.
The effect can be reversed when the bottom part of a vessel is reheated rather than the top, the result is called "reverse
amberina", red at the bottom and amber at the top. |
 AMERICAN
GLASS: Glass first made in the Americas was in Mexico in 1535 and Argentina in
1592 but neither glassworks succeeded due to the small population and lack of demand.
The first English colony to start a glassworks was in 1608 near
Jamestown, Virginia. After one year, the Jamestown glassworks failed
as well as the efforts to establish glassworks in Salem in 1641 and in Philadelphia in 1682.
In the 1650's in New York, the Dutch operated two glassworks.
Demand for glass items increased until
around 1730's. Finally the first successful American glassworks was
established by Caspar Wistar in Wistarburgh, New Jersey, 1738. They
produced bottles, window glass and tableware without any
distinguishing markings so it is hard to identify.
Henry W. Stiegel successfully set up three glassworks in Lancaster County
outside Philadelphia. He produced bottles and window glass
to compete with the imported luxury glass of that day. |
ANNEALING
OVEN: Annealing is the gradual cooling of the outside and the inside of the molten glass
slowly so the glass won’t cool to fast causing to fracture
or break.
An Annealer is a gigantic oven that is computer-controlled to
reduce the stress on the glass during the cooling period.
A small computer runs a temperature versus time algorithm to reduce the stress present in all glass.
Using a four-stage process with various soaks to insure the highest quality possible. |
| ANTIQUE
GLASS:
Is produced when a glass worker individually hand blows and rolls each sheet of glass.
This process has been used since the middle ages, and results in brilliant transparent glass, with many striations and imperfections. The
newer mechanized procedures results in glass known as semi-antique, new antique, or artique® glass. |
| Assistant – The glassworker that works directly for the Gaffer. In some situations, there may be several assistants depending on the size of the project. |
APSLEY
PELLATT GLASS: The Falcon Glass House in Blackfriars and a large showroom at St. Paul's
Churchyard were part of the Pellatt and Green company.
Apsley Pellatt IV joined his father's in business, in London around 1811 at the age of 21.
Apsley ran the company when his father died in 1826 and
changed the company name to Apsley Pellatt in the early 1830s.
Pellatt and prominent scientists Humphrey Davey and Michael
Faraday, took a great interest in glass chemistry resulting
in experiments on optical glass in the 1820s. He made decanters, paperweights, scent bottles, jugs, mugs, and various other items in clear high quality crystal glass with cameo incrustations to around 1850.
In 1819 Apsley Pellatt IV patented "crystallo ceramie",
the process of encasing a medallion in glass, what is known
today as the "Cameo Incrustation" and "Sulphides". He
documented this process in 1821 he wrote a book,"Memoir on the Origin, Progress and Improvement of Glass Manufacture including .....Glass Incrustations",
later revised the content Titled "Curiosities of Glass-Making". |
APOTHECARY
GLASS: Small hand blown glass medicinal bottles have been used for storing and transporting medicines and the ingredients for
medicines for nearly 2,000 years. The earliest ones were the Roman "unguentaria", sometimes called "teardrop
bottles" made by the thousands.
The skilled glass worker would blow a tiny gather of glass into a bulb, pull the neck with his tools to elongate it, and then shear the vial from the blow pipe leaving a simple flared top.
Very few were made during the medieval times. During the "Renaissance"
period small globular "footed" vials for medicines were
made. Then the small cylindrical medicine bottle, popular from 15th century. |
| ARCHITECTURAL
GLASS: Is designed to become part of a building's structure.
An uses this term to specify the glass as part of the architectural design. |
Art Deco
Glass: Named from an exhibition in Paris in 1925 (the Exposition des Arts
Decorative et industrial Moderns) where the finest French artists exhibited their pieces in this new style.
During the 1920's it was renounced for its opulence and exclusiveness".
This style uses geometric patterns, bold colors, and animal motifs.
Designers of the time were Rene Lalique, Maurice Marinot, Daum Freres, Sabino (all French) and from England, we must add Joblings. |
ART NOUVEAU
GLASS: Art Nouveau, a style of decoration popular in the 1890's and 1900's lasting until War broke out in Europe in 1914. It uses free flowing motifs based on nature.
The name Art Nouveau is derived from a Paris gallery called 'Maison de L'Art Nouveau', which played a role in displaying and
popularizing this style.
Think of this style as a feminine form, rounded and curving. Think of plant forms growing and burgeoning.
Many great artists made Art Nouveau Glass: including Galle, Louis C. Tiffany, the Daum brothers at Daum Nancy, Muller Freres, Loetz, and the Powells at
Whitefriars.
As a reaction to the Victorian passion, Art Nouveau imitated earlier styles like Classical and Renaissance, Baroque and Rococco styles.
These imitation works of art gave the Victorians a sense of security and confidence in their own affluence. Art Nouveau was something fresh, entirely new, and a break-away from the old traditions. |
ARTS and
CRAFTS GLASS: The "Arts and Crafts" title came from the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society,
established in 1887 to show off designers' work in a range of
materials and continued for some 50 years. As a a reaction against the
extravagant, over-decorated Victorian taste and the worst features of factory production.
Well know designers were Walter Crane, William Morris, and Charles Robert Ashbee.
Taking a simple design made of inexpensive materials with a high
standard was their goal. They failed to change society in the way they
intended because it was too expensive for "the masses". |
|
|
|
|
|
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
.jpg)
