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Author Topic: Uranium Animals, Oraments, Necklaces.....anyone?  (Read 6109 times)

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Offline mrvaselineglass

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Re: Uranium Animals, Oraments, Necklaces.....anyone?
« Reply #10 on: December 04, 2010, 03:54:41 AM »
There are a ton of vaseline glass beads on ebay.  if you go in to a bead store, they are usually called JONQUIL as their color.  Take a UV light into any bead store and you will be surprised as how much lights up. 

I have a handmade snowflake (made from beads and wire) that is about 7" in diameter.  I have 3 ornaments with loops on them.  If you want some ornaments, write to Jack Loranger and he can fix you up.  his website is www.hotglass.cc  He is a small one-man shop on the border between Washington State and Oregon in the United States.

In fact, if you can come up with an idea for something you want in vaseline glass, he can most likely make it.  I have 2 fish, 3 octopus, 1 rooster, 1 pumpkin, 2 tall tiki glasses, 2 small tiki glasses that hold toothpicks, a pig, a dachshund, an iris with a 22" stem, 8 vases, a rose bowl, and two perfume bottles that look like a fish standing on it's tail.

This is an older picture, but you can see about 1/2 of my Loranger pieces at this link:
http://www.vaselineglass.org/loranger17.jpg

And, if you want to drop in for a visit on the weekend, he might ask you to blow a piece of glass yourself.  I got to do that, and made a cup.  Took me 40 minutes, but it was the opportunity of a lifetime to add a piece of vaseline glass to my collection that I made myself.

http://www.vaselineglass.org/glassblowing.html  I'm the tall guy in the pictures. 

Dave Peterson
Mr Vaseline Glass

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Offline meegs

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Re: Uranium Animals, Oraments, Necklaces.....anyone?
« Reply #11 on: December 04, 2010, 05:44:04 AM »

The reason why these are not common is that there is a risk when you wear uranium glass on the skin. So if you do, consider wearing it on a lead turtleneck sweater.



Ivo, I trust you're just having fun here and teasing us.....
Otherwise I'm done for!
Meegs

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Offline Ivo

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Re: Uranium Animals, Oraments, Necklaces.....anyone?
« Reply #12 on: December 04, 2010, 10:01:34 AM »
Ivo, I trust you're just having fun here and teasing us.....

No really - it is not wise to wear uranium beads on the skin all the time. I am the first to laugh away perceived risks of leaking lead in decanters and radiation from handling uranium glass - but I'd draw the line at wearing it directly on the skin. 

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Offline mrvaselineglass

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Re: Uranium Animals, Oraments, Necklaces.....anyone?
« Reply #13 on: December 04, 2010, 12:41:12 PM »
Meegs
Ivo has one opinion.  My wife was also worried about vaseline glass jewelry, especially beaded necklaces, so we went to The University of Oklahoma in July 1999 and talked to Dr. Paul Skierkowski, PhD, The states's Certified Health Physicist and Radiation Safety officer.  Skierkowski did not recommend carrying around a bunch of vaseline glass marbles in your pocket for the next 20 years, but he had no concerns about wearing jewelry on occasion, because he said the amount of radiation coming from the vaseline glass is so very low.

The following month after this visit, a good friend of mine, Madolyn Courter, and her husband, Larry (a retired PhD in medicine, specializing in radiology), went to the University of Missouri and visited with Susan M. Langhorst, Phd, Chp, who was the radiation safety officer and the Director of Envionmental Health and Safety at that location.  From natural and manmade sources, each person in the world receives about 360 millirems annually from naturally occurring sources.  These radiation sources include cosmic radiation, radon (about 200 millirems per year), medical procedures (like x-rays - about 40 millirems per year), and consumer products.  The occupational limits set by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission sets occupational limits of 5000 millirems per year exposure.  The Courters had various pieces of vaseline glass tested to find out the amount of beta waves being emitted from their glass.  A 4" Daisy and Button ashtray, (which by weight, is considerably larger than a string of beads), put out .9 millirems per hour.  An open salt dish put out .65 millirems per hour. 

Interestingly, a orange Fiesta pottery plate that used uranium oxide as a coloring agent put out 10 millirems per hour, a full 10X more than the vaseline glass ashtray. 

a millirem is short for a milliroentgen and is 1/1000th of a roentgen.  A lethal dose of radiation is 500 rems over a period of several hours.  As there are a 1000 millirems in every 1 rem, that takes a lot of exposure!  Susan Langhorst even had two pieces of vaseline glass on her office desk, and was not concerned about shielding it.  Her comment was that it was too pretty to lock away in a cabinet.

Langhorst also mentioned that the citizens of Denver, Colorado (the mile high city) receive about 90 millirems more radiation on an annual basis than someone living at sea level, yet the rate of cancer of the general population was no greater. 

If you analyze these numbers, provided by nuclear scientists, you will reach the same conclusion I reached.  I sit in a room with about 300 pieces of vaseline glass on a daily basis, and have no concerns whatsoever about being overly exposed to radiation.

(I would be more concerned about exposure to the 'lead turtleneck sweater' that Ivo proposed than occasional usage of a vaseline glass necklace.  Lead is not necessarily a good thing either!) 

Mr. Vaseline Glass
Dave Peterson

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Offline Ohio

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Re: Uranium Animals, Oraments, Necklaces.....anyone?
« Reply #14 on: December 04, 2010, 03:56:56 PM »
While I can see Ivo's concern about wearing a necklace made of beads containing any of the Uranium Oxides since it would be near your thyroid, multiple scientific studies have proven there is no short or long term health hazards associated with manufactured vaseline glass.

I will however add a codicil, Ivo's concerns would be justified when it came to the glass workers who were involved using Uranium Oxides from the late 1800's into the 1940's during the manufacturing process, long before there were any concerns raised regarding occupational safety hazard issues. Ken

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Offline meegs

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Re: Uranium Animals, Oraments, Necklaces.....anyone?
« Reply #15 on: December 04, 2010, 08:11:40 PM »
Thank you Dave for you explanation.
I had come to the conclusion that the beads would have so little uranium content that I perceived very little risk of coming to any harm form wearing them. I'm pleased to see the risk analysis you have provided confirms this, but as Ken wrote I had wondered about risk to the workers in the manufacturing process.
As a Kiwi I'm more worried about the UV radiation I am exposed to everyday under the ozone hole and don't get me started on processed food.....
Cheers
Meegs

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Offline rosieposie

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Re: Uranium Animals, Oraments, Necklaces.....anyone?
« Reply #16 on: December 04, 2010, 08:27:50 PM »
I've got a few uranium animals I would like to share with you,  but I am having difficulty photographing them. 

One is overtly uranium and hardly needs the UV light, and as soon as I have compressed the photo I will post it here,  but some of the others are more subtle, and whilst it shows clearly in real life, the pictures don't do them justice.
So.....any hints on getting good pictures to show you please? :hi:
Rosie.

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

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Offline rosieposie

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Re: Uranium Animals, Oraments, Necklaces.....anyone?
« Reply #17 on: December 07, 2010, 12:09:17 AM »
Here are my two best photo's of two of my uranium animals.

1+2 is an Anteater / Badger??
3+4 is a (Possibly?)Konstglas cat/ gremlin?

I would still really appreciate any help with photographing the others. ;D
Rosie.

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

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Offline Lustrousstone

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Re: Uranium Animals, Oraments, Necklaces.....anyone?
« Reply #18 on: December 07, 2010, 07:33:07 AM »
I don't think your cat thing is uranium, that glow looks like manganese to me. The colour of the glow is all wrong.

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Offline rosieposie

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Re: Uranium Animals, Oraments, Necklaces.....anyone?
« Reply #19 on: December 07, 2010, 10:13:20 AM »
Hi Christine,  thanks so much for that information :thup:......I only noticed a colour change when I took the UV lamp into the room to photograph the badger/anteater.  I have got a lot of other ones that I now know are Manganese rather than Uranium. A lot of the Marcolin 'feather' effect animals seem to change to that cloudy green....elephants and cats.   

The funny thing is,  I was surprised by how many pieces of Uranium glass tableware I have, and also a green glass clock ....all these glowed in the room as I was taking this picture.....looked quite spooky!!

Hope you liked the Ant eater....he was sold as a badger and is one of my favourite pieces. :hi:

Rosie.

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

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