Topic: Thomas Webb bright polished acid-etched patterns

[Bernard C]

I recently acquired a small collection of stemmed glasses by Thomas Webb, all with optic 8-ribbed bowls, some engraved, some bright polished acid-etched, mostly a combination of the two techniques.   Those glasses that are marked carry the first Made in England mark, which, in this case, dates them to the mid to late 1930s.   You can see a typical example here, second row, No. 6839.

I understand that the etching was done by covering the glass with a resist, and then using a stylus through a copper pattern template to remove the resist where the etching was required.   Patterns include a basket of flowers, flower sprays, and fruiting vine, some set in oval or hexagonal frames.

As such, this is eminently suitable for analysis, possibly with some idea of dating, much in the same way as Hajdamach's table of Burmese floral patterns by the Barbe workshop.

Does anyone know of such an analysis?

Bernard C. 

Mod: Edited as per Bernard's request below.

[krsilber]

There are plenty of such analyses for American companies!  It would be interesting to compare the Webb style of etching to theirs.  I would especially like to see photos of your etched and engraved pieces.  To use the two processes in conjunction is pretty uncommon in the glass I'm familiar with, and I like to see examples of it.  The picture on the Great Glass site is not much good for details.

Not sure what type of etching you're talking about, another reason I'd like to see it.  Pantograph used a stylus following a pattern in a metal plate, is that it?  The operator moved the stylus, and the machine transferred those movements to a needle, which scratched through the resist on the glass.  There was also needle etching, but you couldn't do baskets and flowers and stuff with that.  In America plate etching became much more common than either of those methods by the '30s, but I don't know about in England.

[Bernard C]

Kristi — Can't help now, for two reasons.   The glasses are all packed for the Stourbridge fair tomorrow.   Also I don't really fully understand how they were made.   Hajdamach mentions it in a sentence or two, probably as it was well outwith the time frame for his book.   Woodward doesn't mention bright polished acid-etching, only discussing what he calls pseudo-cameo, although he notes that Webb's etching department closed at the end of the 1930s.

It's very distinctive, quite different to other types of etching, and may be relatively uncommon, as the production period may have been as little as two years.

... and we are doing two fairs in two days, Stourbridge and Woking, so please allow me time to recover!

Bernard C. 

Moderators — please would you delete "laurel wreaths, laurel swags, " from my opening comments above as I now realise that these design elements were engraved and not bright polished acid-etched.   Profuse apologies for this error. Mod: Done.

[krsilber]

Sounds like you're plenty busy!  No hurry, but when you have a chance it would be nice to see your pieces.

Finally remembered the chapter on acid etching in Hadjamach's book.  I see now what you mean by the templates on a machine being used to directly guide the removal of resist (plates 157 and 160, pp. 180-181).  That seems to be a pretty old, primitive technique, requiring additional freehand work; I doubt it would have been in use still in the 1930s.  I now also understand the "bright polish" etching you mention - simply the addition of sulphuric acid to leave the lines less matte, giving a different look to the decoration.

Northwood's "geometric etching machine" seems to be the one that does needle etching (as we call it now over here, anyway).  The piece on the right in plate 165 is a clear example of it, though the one on the left looks to me like a pantograph etching - I always thought with needle etching there were no "dead end" lines, they were all continuous.  Some parts look too much like freehand to be created by machine, like the swags of flowers on the bottom.  Perhaps just some of the design was done on the geometric etching machine.

Anyway, I hope your shows go well!