Topic: Malta Decorative Glass? Round vase with 'gold' foil

[flying free]

Question - so does MDG have foil in some pieces then please? 
thanks
m

[glassobsessed]

Never spotted any myself....

John

[flying free]

Sue's second picture of her green stoppered bottle llooks to have foil in it?  It looks like you can see where the pieces have broken apart or is it not foil?
m

[chopin-liszt]

Look carefully, the patches are streaky and coloured - it's NOT foil - it's silver chloride melted onto the surface of the vessel, which then does its silver reaction with the glass, the chloride escapes and then it's further blown, which stretches the glass coloured by the silver.
It is not silver foil.

[flying free]

Interesting.  Thanks Sue.  I was looking at your second picture down and 'seeing' large patches of silver flakes which to me look like foil.  I am going to have to examine carefully other pieces I see now, where I avoid if they look to have foil in which I don't like - it may well be that they aren't foil at all on some occasions and I am missing out on special pieces
thanks again
m

[chopin-liszt]

Those large patches are the ones which show the streakiness,   
(where the patches are ochrey it's because there was a lot more silver present to colour the glass).
It really is very different to foil.

[flying free]

Yes, I probably didn't explain myself properly in the post above yours 
I just meant that I 'see' items with this effect and immediately think they have foil in so I 'switch off' and don't look at them any more... and I'm probably missing out on buying lovely pieces because in some cases, it's as you say,  not foil at all, but silver chloride  and I just haven't looked closely enough at them.
m

[chopin-liszt]

I don't know how common the use of silver chloride has been in glassmaking - particularly not in this unusual manner. Even in Mdina, it's fairly certain to be a Boffo bit... I think it unlikely you've missed something. 

[glassobsessed]

Sorry m, I was not going to risk an explanation of what they are, could only point to what they are not.

Similar effect in the second Mdina globe, the one on the left has the silver chloride drawn out, in the one on the right it has just broken up into little 'tectonic plates'.

Isn't gold foil normally applied to the surface of a vessel? Can it take the temperature necessary if cased?

John

[chopin-liszt]

Gold, being a noble (inert) metal, does not react with anything much - it has to be forced into it. It doesn't react with molten glass - unlike silver.
Gold can be on the surface or under a casing.