Submitted by kawazu on 25 October, 2015 - 10:25
Submitted by kawazu on 4 April, 2013 - 13:55
I've been sent a copy of a photograph taken on the Glass Association's trip to Germany in 2011, and I'd like to share it with all the people who didn't go on the trip.
Submitted by kawazu on 30 August, 2012 - 20:09
I've just spent four days at the International Festival of Glass - a marvellous time. Highlights for me were the Biennale Exhibition, the 2012 Portland Vase, and several of the lectures, in particular Alison Kinnaird's talk about the commission she received from the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. I'm hoping to go to Edinburgh very soon, and am looking forward to seeing the work in place.
The Guild of Glass Engravers have an exhibition in the Red House Cone that continues until early October. This too is well worth a visit. Many of the exhibits are for sale.
On a lighter note, I saw some of the demonstrations of glassmaking both at Broadfield House and the Cone. I didn't have the stamina of either Allister Malcolm or Elliot Walker - congratulations to both on their efforts. A lot of money will have been raised for an excellent cause - the British Glass Foundation.
Submitted by kawazu on 12 April, 2012 - 15:22
I've just received notification that the latest copy of Vidimus is now available. For those who haven't heard of Vidimus, I should explain that it is an on-line magazine dedicated to the history of stained glass. The heading on the homepage speaks of "mediaeval stained glass", but the editors quite rightly are interested in far more than this. An article in issue 59 reports the death of Keith New, who painted some of the stained glass in Coventry Cathedral.
http://vidimus.org/issues/issue-59/news/#news-10889
Glass Association members who attended the 2010 AGM will surely remember the lecture on some of the sandblasted glass panels created for the Cathedral and meeting the artist's model.
This article deals with the use of stained glass to make sundials, the gnomon (or pointer) being outside the building, and casting its shadow on the glass, to be read by someone standing inside, and discusses at some length the likely maker of the dial in question. That, at least is the theory, though it seems that a number of such glass sundials have been relocated, so that they no longer work.
http://vidimus.org/issues/issue-59/feature/
There is a link in the article to a specialist website
http://www.advanceassociates.com/Sundials/Stained_Glass/sundials_Archive.html
An excellent example of how the World Wide Web can make available the most arcane information!
Submitted by kawazu on 18 February, 2012 - 08:08
I wasn't surprised to see a small selection of Jacobite drinking glasses - some with the most delicate decoration - in the gallery devoted to the history of the Jacobite cause, but I was delighted to come across a a small portrait by Alison Kinnaird. http://www.alisonkinnaird.com/ Her portrait of Roy Dennis was commissioned by the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in 2003. The Gallery has been completely refurbished since I was last there, and is well worth a visit if you are in Edinburgh.
Submitted by kawazu on 13 February, 2012 - 19:10
I'm in Edinburgh to see the F C B Cadell exhibition in the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art http://www.nationalgalleries.org/whatson/exhibitions/the-scottish-colour..., but have taken the opportunity to visit both the National Museum of Scotland and the National Gallery of Scotland. I was pleased to see the National Museum has the work of two Scottish glassmakers in the shop - Mike Hunter (Twists Glass)
Submitted by kawazu on 9 February, 2012 - 12:55
It is now possible to register to receive information about the International Festival of Glass 2012. The web address is http://www.ifg.org.uk/ The deadline for those wishing to submit work to the British Glass Biennale is 20th February 2012. If the Festival is anywhere near as good as the two previous Festivals I attended, it should be great fun.
Submitted by kawazu on 5 February, 2012 - 23:09
I've just come across the website of the Glass Museum at Passau - it took me a bit of searching, as the first page of entries were all for sites such as Trip Advisor....It's at www.glasmuseum.de - and well worth a visit. Unfortunately it's in German only, as far as I can tell, but if you are interested in glass - particularly some of the fine glass of Central Europe, you can find your own way around. It brought back memories of my visit with the GA last year; and made me want to go back for another visit.
Submitted by kawazu on 14 February, 2011 - 14:22
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I'd thought that the vase illustrated was Stevens and Williams, and just possibly designed by the young Frederick CARDER - but that was until I came across pattern 15535 in the Webb Archive. The colours are different - the pattern book specifies a"Blue Shaded body, flint stems, Ivory flowers, topaz prunts" |
Submitted by kawazu on 3 February, 2011 - 16:59
I've just been listening to a radio programme (Radio 4 - Material World) in which there was a news item about an English Heritage Blue Plaque being fixed on the former home of a Nobel prize-winning chemist.
It seems to me that there are a number of candidates for Blue Plaques in the glass-making industry. If I were to suggest a few, I'd nominate John Northwood, Frederick Carder, and Benjamin Richardson for a start.
Submitted by kawazu on 29 January, 2011 - 21:08
It's too late now, when the pieces have left the studio - but will all glassmakers please sign their work? I've bought a couple of pieces recently that are either unsigned or with illegible signatures. I'd like to know who made them, because I'd like to keep an eye out for their work in future.
Submitted by kawazu on 3 January, 2011 - 10:30
Six more Glass Slippers from the Webb Archive.... Surely one of these will fit....
Submitted by kawazu on 30 December, 2010 - 12:58
Now that the pantomime season is upon us, I'm posting the "latest" fashion accesory from the Webb Archive - a glass slipper! Just what every Fairy Godmother ever wanted. Perhaps it's fortunate that Cinderella never had one of these - it's elastic sided, and might have just have stretched to fit one of her Ugly Sisters.....
With a pattern number of 10069, it dates from the beginning of 1876 - and it wasn't the only one - there are at least another five!
Submitted by kawazu on 23 December, 2010 - 16:03
They aren't roller skating, but if I interpret the annotation correctly, these were intended to be produced in Cameo! I can't see any other reason for the note "Yellow body cased in Blue & Ruby".
More pictures from the archive when I've had a chance to go through my photos...
Submitted by kawazu on 15 December, 2010 - 16:22
I just have to share this discovery! I'm doing some research which involves looking at old pattern books, and came across this in the Thomas Webb archive (deposited with the Dudley Archives at Coseley in the West Midlands).
If I hadn't seen it and photographed it, I'd never have believed it. Does anyone know if it was ever made?
Submitted by kawazu on 25 November, 2010 - 13:40
This is the first of a series of links I'm going to post to websites that may be of partiular interest to members of the Glass Association. Feedback is welcomed! Some I've come across quite by accident - but then, that's one of the marvels of the Web....
Submitted by kawazu on 19 November, 2010 - 15:29
I've recently been dipping into my copy of this book - unfortunately, I believe, out of print, and not likely to be reprinted. It's full of fascinating information about the history of the Stourbridge Glass industry. What it must have been like to see one of the "Friggars Parades"! - where the glassmakers practised their skills on a Saturday, and when the finished pieces had been removed from the lear - his spelling for lehr - on the Sunday morning, they were taken by their owners on a tour of the local hosteries... The best piece was chosen, and it was then th
Submitted by kawazu on 15 November, 2010 - 14:59
Another worthwhile visit to the Glass Fair. I'd gone with very specific aims - I'm trying to limit my collecting, but like many collectors I cannot resist interesting things that don't really go with the rest of the stuff I've acquired, and this time was no exception - an odd glass ?rummer ?firing glass - in a brownish-yellow Uranium metal. Glows under UV. It looks early 19th century, and I think it's British, so it must be one of the earlier pieces to be made in Uranium glass. I'll post a picture when I get the chance.
Submitted by kawazu on 4 November, 2010 - 16:52
After the fascinating presentations at the AGM on the stained glass in the Chapel at Tyntesfield, and the great screen of Coventry Cathedral, can I draw the attention of members of the Glass Assoc to the work done by Vidimus?
This is the only on line magazine devoted to Mediaeval Stained Glass. Registration is simple, and each month you receive an e-mail with a link to the latest edition. A very scholarly publication, and fascinating reading.
Here is a link to the Home page
