The Glass Society

Our AGM will be held on Zoom on Tuesday 21 February at 18:00 hours. It will be followes by a show & tell session

I have been researching the Stuart and Sons company archive for a book to be published in due course.

Whilst studying the pattern books from the late 19th century, I discovered several engraved vessels in the Aesthetic taste about which little is known.

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IFG -The International Festival of Glass is being held over the August Bank Holiday Weekend.

Image (c)  Cloud Pot 1    Eunsuh Choi

IFG PROGRAMME

Image (c) Sound Ideas Media - Cheese Burn Sculpture Gardens Northumberland 2019

The technique of fabricating glass apparatus using a gas burner is called scientific glassblowing.

Laboratory glassware is generally made of borosilicate glass, Pyrex being one prominent brand. James A. Jobling Ltd., Sunderland, became the home of British Pyrex production.

In the 1970s, however, the glassblowers of this major UK centre were made redundant. Some of these skilled artisans turned to producing glass giftware. 

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Lattimo Plate(c) 1741  View The Grand Canal   (c) Bonhams

In the 18th century, it was the tradition especially for wealthy young British gentlemen, to complete their education by travelling throughout Europe, with Italy as their main destination.

The Grand Tour, as it became known, enriched their lives by an appreciation of the classical arts

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In the years around 1900, the artists of the École de Nancy elevated glass art to an entirely new level.

Among the high-quality works, one object stands out: the so-called ' Main aux algues et aux coquillages'.

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The age of a glass can be important to a collector
in a number of different ways. For some an antique
glass is a window into the past and its date informs
their muse on what events it may have ‘seen’, or who
might have drunk from it. 

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This will be a personal story. Along the way I would like to show you some of my favourite glasses and why they are my favourites.

Originally I collected candlesticks. But when I met my wife and she came to live with me, these depressed her. So I moved to glasses. 

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Noticing the name “Powell” used for all forms of British Arts & Crafts glassware, Nigel shows how he determines features identifying which company made a particular piece. This ongoing search relies on observation, looking for ‘touch stone’ items – readily identifiable by a known manufacturer, informing the colours and forms from that company.

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Tiny, delicate, and beautiful: the Blaschka glass models capture the ethereal mystery of the deep sea.

Over 10,000 of them were created and distributed worldwide by father and son Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka in the nineteenth century.

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English glass bottles with applied seals displaying the designs of drinking establishments,arms or other heraldic devices or names form an important part of museum collections.

This talk examines them through evidence accumulated from excavations in London over the past 70 years.

Image (c) Nigel Jeffries / MOLA

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The Great East Window of York Minster is one of the largest medieval windows in Britain and was glazed by John Thornton of Coventry between 1405-1408.

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A  small area in France produces 80% of the world's perfume bottles.

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  Image Credit (c)   Alan Thornton

The techniques needed to make glass paperweights have been known for 2000 years or more, but paperweights have evolved as an art form only over the last 200 years. 

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