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Author Topic: glass decorating technique - what is it called? - ID = by Kralik  (Read 9422 times)

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Offline Ivo

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Re: glass decorating technique - what is it called?
« Reply #10 on: August 24, 2008, 05:32:16 AM »
that seems to be random threading enamel not crackle and might be Czech not Italian?

Offline flying free

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Re: glass decorating technique - what is it called?
« Reply #11 on: August 24, 2008, 05:24:07 PM »
Max many thanks for doing the photo for me :)
Kev, I will try again to upload the program and work out what to do, thank you.
Frank, not wasted at all - I've had great fun looking at millions :spls: of different craquele/crackle effect techniques and learning something in the process.
Ivo, many thanks! a whole new area to look in learn as well.  I haven't come across anything apart from the inkwell link and two kralik (?) inkwells that looked similar (to my eye).  I think that is probably to do with the fact that my box is satin finish and everything I have looked at is either irridescent or clear making it very difficult for me to compare.   But very  interesting hunting nonetheless.

thanks all
m

Offline krsilber

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Re: glass decorating technique - what is it called?
« Reply #12 on: August 27, 2008, 11:24:14 PM »
I'm not sure what controls the pattern that appears, but there seems to be quite a variety of crackle/craquele finishes.  Some of the networks of lines are quite dense, and it would be easy to think it was an entirely different technique from a piece like yours.  This vase shows a network that is dense on the neck, but less so on the body, presumably as a result of the expansion of the glass there.
http://cgi.ebay.com/TALL-Loetz-Iridescent-Craqele-Glass-Vase-circa-1895_W0QQitemZ130245580737QQihZ003QQcategoryZ29555QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262

I never looked much at crackle glass before now, but to me the "pattern" on yours is very similar to some of the examples I've seen lately, though less dense.  It looks like the lines on the neck of the finial are quite thin compared to those on most of the body, is that true?  That would be from the glass expanding in the mold, stretching the lines and the pattern generally.

Then there's the white filling in the cracks.  Ivo's suggestion that it's randomly threaded enamel would account for it, but it doesn't seem to me like the lines follow the kind of look that threading produces - they're too jagged somehow.  The color thing stumped me on the inkwell, too... but I have an idea.  What if the pieces were coated with a thin layer of white powdered glass at the furnace, and this layer was removed by acid when the piece was satinized?  Only the areas of deeper white in the fissures would remain if the acid dip was done right.  This might account for the fact that in the wider cracks there's white only at the edges - where they expanded in the middle, the white layer was thinner.  Plausible?
Kristi


"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science."

- Albert Einstein

Offline flying free

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Re: glass decorating technique - what is it called?
« Reply #13 on: August 27, 2008, 11:53:20 PM »
thanks Kristi - I was just about to totally give up on this one as I have literally looked at every picture I think is available on the web - some I feel are a similar effect in terms of patterning but none really in terms of glass finish (e.g satin v irridescent) .  But then I have also realised that I haven't actually really seen any irridescent glass and whilst some obviously look totally different, there appears to be others which do have an all over single colour without variant/grading.  Therefore in the flesh as it were these vases may look similar to my pot, but I am pretty certain my pot is satin finish but definitely not irridised.
 Your description and reasoning of the white I buy :), ( not all of the grooves retain white, some appear as just grooves in the surface same colour) but I need to qualify that with I have no idea whatsoever  ;D but I am sure I read somewhere about something like that.    Having done lots of searching, I feel it is a crackle effect.  But then I have never seen a threaded effect either.  I would be interested to know if all threaded effect creates a raised thread on the surface ( saw just a few which from the photos looked as though they may be grooves rather than raised)- or can it also create a 'grooved' effect in the surface of the object?
I can tell this is going to become one of my faves :)
thanks again
m


Offline krsilber

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Re: glass decorating technique - what is it called?
« Reply #14 on: August 28, 2008, 02:45:38 AM »
As far as the glass finish goes (satin, glossy, etc.), that isn't usually relevant when trying to discover a hot glass technique, but there are exceptions and this might be one of them.  The finish might hold clues for attribution, though, so it's good you paid attention to it when looking around.

Threading can create a raised pattern, but it can't create a sunken one except insofar as the surrounding glass may look like a groove has been created to accomodate the thread.  But the outer surface of the threading won't be below the surface of the rest of the glass.

As to attribution or origin, I'm pretty clueless there, not having seen other examples of this (that I remember).  The inkwell that's like yours seems to me to be an Italian shape, but that doesn't mean it was made there.  I've never seen any Czech/Bohemian glass with this sort of treatment, but maybe Ivo has. 

Have you figured out posting photos?  It might be helpful to see the bottom and a couple interior shots, including one of the lid.
Kristi


"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science."

- Albert Einstein

Offline Fuhrman Glass

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Re: glass decorating technique - what is it called?
« Reply #15 on: August 28, 2008, 11:26:04 PM »
Here's another crazy idea. It may have been crackled in "scavo" solution, i.e. mild soda solution and that produced the whiteness in the crackles. after it came out of the annealer it may have been put in an acid bath that etched the top surfaces and produced the satin finish.
It might also have been dipped in wax resist then heated a little allowing the wax to only stay in the crackle areas and then acid etched. It migtht also have been a fume etch where it was never dipped at all. it probably was blown as a crystal overlay of the light blue color and the crackling only crackled the outer surface, which may or may not have been equally distributed on the blue. this could account for the way the acid attacked some of the crackling more so than others and created the "white" look of the crackles.

Offline krsilber

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Re: glass decorating technique - what is it called?
« Reply #16 on: August 29, 2008, 01:18:11 AM »
Oooh, cool ideas!  I was hoping a glassblower would "pipe up."  That scavo solution is intriguing.  So the soda turns everything a frosty color while producing the crackles?  Hmmm.

I'm a bit confused about the cased crystal hypothesis.  Is it only meant to account for the white lines, or also for the way it's crackled?

Tom, just out of curiosity, do you think my hypothesis is plausible as well?  If not, I'd like to know - all part of the learning process.
Kristi


"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science."

- Albert Einstein

Offline rosieposie

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Re: glass decorating technique - what is it called?
« Reply #17 on: August 29, 2008, 08:41:40 AM »
I was reading this thread yesterday, and then today, I was browsing eBay....the way you do..... and saw this
200247896789 and thought, 'is this the same technique'?
I don't know, but a spanner in the works might be worth 2 in the bush!! ;)
Rosie.

When all's said and done, there's nothing left to say or do.  Roger McGough.

Offline flying free

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Re: glass decorating technique - what is it called?
« Reply #18 on: August 29, 2008, 01:14:53 PM »
Tom thank you so much for your detailed and very informative reply  :)  It was much appreciated.  I am learning such a lot (rather than just 'oh I LIKE that' which is my normal reaction as to whether or not I buy a piece of glass, and it so interesting)
Kristi I must try and find a way of getting my photos on myself.  The base/foot is circular and is part of the base of the box and is hollow, the appearance in terms of decoration is the same as the inkwell and nothing I have found anywhere else on the net is the same.  Most of what appears to me 'familiar' and 'reminds me of' despite not being the same exactly, is Czech/Bohemian as Ivo said. 
Rosie I also found Dartington Studio plate on this site (robbo's? perhaps can't remember at the mo) which ticked a few boxes in similarity, but my box has no identification on the bottom, the pattern covers  the base completely.  It just didn't 'feel' right, but then what do I know?  ;D I might be tempted to mail them a pic and ask nevertheless.
many thanks
m

Offline flying free

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Positive id - Re: glass decorating technique - what is it called?
« Reply #19 on: October 27, 2009, 10:36:38 PM »
I just thought I would update on this with more photos and also that I have had a positive ID on my hexagonal box.
Since I first posted this, I have been back and forth intermittently, checking Loetz.com and a few other sites which have Kralik on them.
Then yesterday I happened to check again and there were some items with a very similar finish to my box. 
So I plucked up the courage to email Alfredo Villanueva-Collado with my pictures and he has confirmed it is Kralik.

I am thrilled to bits as it is possibly the only piece of Kralik I will ever own ;D . My thanks to him for responding to my email so swiftly and with such grace. 
And thanks to all who helped start the trail of id'ing especially Ivo, as I would never have found my way to Kralik without your direction of 'Czech'!

m


 

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