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Author Topic: Question: The difference between pulegoso and bollicine glass?  (Read 10741 times)

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Offline TxSilver

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Re: Question: The difference between pulegoso and bollicine glass?
« Reply #10 on: May 24, 2010, 04:10:20 AM »
Both techniques do have the purpose of creating bubbles by heating a substance inside the glass. In my thinking, glassmakers use pulegoso with the idea of creating a rough surface made by the opened and unopened bubbles. Scarpa's bollicine seems to all be internal and is often, as mentioned, used with sommerso pieces. I am still hoping someone has a Scarpa piece that they can describe the feel. I bet the surface is smooth.

It was so much easier in the days I just called everything bubble glass.  :D
Anita
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Offline langhaugh

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Re: Question: The difference between pulegoso and bollicine glass?
« Reply #11 on: May 24, 2010, 04:41:34 AM »
Anita:


I think you are right in that  the Scarpa pieces would be smooth as they're cased.  I've got a piece, Mexican I think, that is pure pulegosa, i.e. no casing, but no open bubbles. Neither do the Beranek pieces have open bubbles, although the surface is rougher than normal glass. I would guess the shaping of the piece smooths over the open bubbles.  I think the rougher surface is part of the effect Martinuzzi was aiming for. However, the style of Martinuzzi's pieces is a backward looking style in the sense that it evokes the past. They're big, solid, straightforward pieces.   The bubbles also provide add to the sense of solidity by making the piece more opaque. So while the tactile element is important, I think the visual element is also important, both in that the light reflects different from a rougher surface, and the piece looks more solid because of the bubbles. Scarpa' pieces are more modern looking. They're smoother, cleaner, more subtle. (Guess who I prefer?)

I think it's worth going back to the roots of the words, both of which denote bubbles. I think you're idea of going back to calling it bubble glass is actually a good idea. One book, for example, does call it foam glass.

David
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Offline langhaugh

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Re: Question: The difference between pulegoso and bollicine glass?
« Reply #12 on: May 24, 2010, 07:09:03 AM »
Dorian:

Sorry. I've just realised I've got away from the original question. I'd be quite happy calling both pulegosa as the bubbles are the main feature of both and they are quite dense. However, I don't think there's a definitive answer as it all depends on how much of which substance you add to the glass at which time. In other words, it's a relative, not an absolute difference.

Here are four pieces of bubble glass I have. Each is a little different.

David
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Offline obscurities

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Re: Question: The difference between pulegoso and bollicine glass?
« Reply #13 on: May 24, 2010, 05:05:50 PM »
A couple of comments to confuse the issue if I may....   ;D

I, though the years have typically associated the Generic application of the term Bollicine with glass which is fairly transparent, such as the second and third example David posted, and the term Pulegoso I have typically associated with opaque pieces such as examples 1 (Beranek) and the 4th example. Whether right or wrong, I do not know..... probably incorrect....

Craig
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Offline TxSilver

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Re: Question: The difference between pulegoso and bollicine glass?
« Reply #14 on: May 24, 2010, 05:48:57 PM »
Craig, I do the same thing. Words seem to have a certain spirit. For example, bullicante and a bolle are the same thing, but I used bullicante when bubbles are orderly and small, such as many of the Fratelli Toso pieces. I use a bolle when the bubbles are larger and round. They look kind of lazy and a bolle sounds more relaxed than bullicante.

Pulegoso and bollicine may overlap in the techniques used, but pulegoso is a robust sounding word. So I use it when the surface has been roughed up by the bubbles.

I think I'll just totally ignore the word bollicine from here on.  :P So much confusion for such a simple word. Bolliicine sounds relaxed to me, like the froth found in many layered ashtrays.
Anita
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Offline TxSilver

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Re: Question: The difference between pulegoso and bollicine glass?
« Reply #15 on: May 24, 2010, 05:56:14 PM »
BTW, David's black and white vase looks so much like efeso that I wonder about the technique. Those are some big bubbles!
Anita
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Offline langhaugh

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Re: Question: The difference between pulegoso and bollicine glass?
« Reply #16 on: May 24, 2010, 09:05:53 PM »
Looking over one of my posts, I see that I've quoted someone as saying Martinuzzi's pulegosa was "more coposteriorly bubbled." I'm not sure what coposteriorly means of where the heck the word came from, but it should have read "more coarsely bubbled."

I checked another couple of sources. The Deboni Venini book adds a little to what we've been saying. Pulegosa "consists of a spongy pasta vitrea full of irregular bubbles of air, created by pouring a substance which provokes this reaction into the molten paste." So the texture comes not just from the bubbles but from the glass itself. Deboni doesn't define bollicine at at all, although he defines Scarpa's sommerso glass as usually containing  a layer of bullicante glass. I find that quite confusing as I've always though that bullicante glass was created by spike moulds or  a mat of spikes on the marver.

Finally, I went to the Barovier and Toso website (http://www.barovier.com/s_community/voc_detail.asp?id=147), which I should have visited first. It simply says that a bolle and bulicante are the same (spike created bubbles) and pulegosa = bollicine.  That makes the most sense to me. I'm joining Anita in ignoring bollicine from now on.

BTW, the third piece in my pic was Scandinavian, Randsfjordglass by T. Torgersen. I think the bubbles were created by the picking up a powder from the marver and then dipping the piece back in the pot. 

Just to keep the conversation going, though.... Anita uses bolle to describes big bubbles, but I think bolle is when a spike mould is used. There was thread recently where someone described how Erickson glass made large bubbles by incorporating glass peas in the gather. They melted leaving a bubble. I think that's how the larger bubbles in Murano were created. I was also looking at all my bubbled pieces and some that I thought were puelgosa because the bubbles seemed random, were, in fact, bolle/bullicante, as several layers of glass had been consecutively rolled on spikes, so the bubbles were at different depths in the glass and looked random. I think Seguso did this.

I promise to stop now. Hope this hasn't too pedantic, but it helps me figure out what glass is all about.


David (call me bubbles, but not to my face)

David
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Offline TxSilver

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Re: Question: The difference between pulegoso and bollicine glass?
« Reply #17 on: May 24, 2010, 09:55:26 PM »
Yeah, we did this discussion proud and I think we came to a good conclusion. Thanks, David. We have to loosen the definition of bullicante and bolle somewhat. The glass can be made by any mechanical means, including poking a needle and blowing air inside. Bullicante/bolle is mechanical while pulegoso/bullicante is chemical.

My brain is now filled with bubbles.
Anita
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Offline Cathy B

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Re: Question: The difference between pulegoso and bollicine glass?
« Reply #18 on: May 31, 2010, 06:24:55 AM »
Another victim of the autocorrect! Sigh - we recently discovered "coposteriorly" is what happens to the word "coarsely" when the board automatically substitutes "posterior" for "arse". :24: Anne's recently tweaked the board so that hopefully it doesn't happen again.

Offline steph

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Re: Question: The difference between pulegoso and bollicine glass?
« Reply #19 on: May 31, 2010, 09:07:21 AM »
Hi Anita & David....this thread was fascinating, such a steep learning curve in a short space of time...I'm breathless but when I've recovered I'm of to look as some of my bubbly glass :hiclp:

 

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