Uranium Glass

I have seen and understood what Uranium glass is, but never heard of Vaseline glass. Have visited the Fenton factory - just didn't see, hear, read or understand anything about Vaseline glass. Can someone enlighten me?

same thing - Best site for layman explanation of "vaseline" is the GLASS MUSEUM

It's the same thing. Glassworkers call it uranium glass, collectors (particularly of presssd glass) call it vaseline glass.

.BB.

do you happen to have a quotable definition of 'pressed glass' ? One show i do has suddenly added that to the list of 'not acceptable to exhibit'...... thanks, m

exhibit'......

The complete, published source of this material is Glass: A Pocket Dictionary of Terms Commonly Used to Describe Glass and Glassmaking. Compiled by David Whitehouse, 88 pp., 47 illus., 1993.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to add to my information bank about "Vaseline" glass. And also for introducing me to the Glass Museum. Not being a collector isolated me from the terminology. Hal

exhibit'......

I think some people did not read my entire post...

I was not the one asking - I was answering - my answer - with several informative links was below my copy of the original individual's inquiry -- the entire answer - for those who missed it (AOL wants to shove answers way down on the page - regardless of my spacing when posting - ) follows here again:

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same thing - Best site for layman explanation of "vaseline" is the GLASS MUSEUM

Only if you displayed the mold with the pieces, and then maybe not. I am not sure what pressed art glass would mean - I hope it is something beyond putting a glob of glass in a mold and pressing into shape. In the past, some blown pieces used pressed glass for the foot or lid.

Our family had several pieces of pressed glass which featured deep pressing (about 3/8") and also had light engraving of a wheat pattern where there was no pressed design. I have no idea who made them, and the pieces are long since gone. The ones that I remember the most were a large bowl (about 6" high and 14-15" in circumference) and a square vase (4" x 12" high). They were a fascination to a young mind. This was all clear glass and approximately 9/16" thick. HEAVY!!!

Hal

I would have a hard time understanding how pressing glass into a handmade mold is somehow less artistic than, say, pate de verre or kilnforming.

-Kalera

Mike Firth wrote:

I have seen 4 or 5 booths in the last couple of years that had scads of glass shapes that they were selling very cheaply. I asked how they did it, one artist to another, I was told they used cast iron baking molds. Buy them in any good cookware shop. They come in all kinds of shapes. I know that almost everybody that does shows needs an inexpensive item that covers their expenses, but it seems like cheating to me..... Barbara Dream Master

If you want to make God laugh, tell him your future plans. Woody Allen

It's mass production, essentially, which is the antithesis of craft.

.BB.

I see pressed glass as being the various plates that are so common in thrift stores, flower petals, etc. Mass production by factory workers. Individual pieces, no individual "hands on".

Using a pre-made mold would be more craft than art, but with a hand-made mold, it's a different ball of wax.

-Kalera

Barbara Otters> >

What's mass-produced about a handmade mold? And would you also bar pate de verre and fused glass from the "art" category because they, too, use a mold?

To me, what should distinguish it as "art" would be whether the mold is handmade and unique, or in the case of fusing, it would depend on the layup... and there's a lot of grey area there. Barring an entire categoy smacks of laziness and ignorance; perhaps the judges aren't qualified to distinguish pressed glass "art" from pressed glass "craft". I think it's sad, because there certainly is't much original pressed glass art, and it's an area I'd like to see encouraged rather than dismissed.

-Kalera

BrooklynBabe wrote:

And you are, even though you had to ask here what pressed glass _is_. I see.

Lots of hot glass tools (wood blocks and newspaper pads, certainly) are initially hand-made or hand-designed. But none of the other handmade tools enables an unskilled worker to recreate an exact replica, again and again, of a given form. That's factory work. It doesn't require skill or talent or much of anything besides molten glass to be poured and a mold to be upended into a lehr.

.BB.

If I like the looks of it IT IS ART! If I don't like it, I DON"T go around telling everybody else that the piece is no good. ART is in the eye of the beholder - just like observing a good looking woman. I won't address the male side of the question, as I'm not a good judge of male pulchritude (sp)!

Hal

What is behind this question of handmade and massproduced? It is a long time since I last read a handmade book but many of the printed ones were better. I do appreciate live music but mainly listen to CD's that are machine pressed in ready-made molds. Most bronze sculptures are produced in limited or unlimited editions by foundries.

Some classical pieces of Aalto or Wirkkala glassbvare factory produced over decades. The design is art. The pieces do not carry the names of factory workers.

-lauri

Kalera Stratt> Using a pre-made mold would be more craft than art, but with a hand-made