Topic: spray on glass on paperweight

[dreama]

I have a lot of PW's that are much older than this one.  What would cause this? 

[chopin-liszt]

A shock of some sort?
Heat or cold, a sudden change might do it - but it would depend on what stresses are in the weight after annealling.
If there had been a temperature fluctuation during annealing, a weight might look perfect, but still have a load of strange stresses inside.
In older times, control of annealling oven temperatures was not as good as it is today.

[dreama]

Yes I would say it was a shock, because my family has had glass for as long as I can remember, and I am over 50.  I even have some my grandfather made at Cambridge around 1910, and never saw it happen.  We did not have alot of dengenhart, mostly, cambridge, heisey, mosser, imperial and variety glass.  I played with it as kid, ( makes great doll furniture) lol!  I have other pieces, pw's from degenhart I hope they dont do this? I checked them all, and so far so good, is this something that happens due to something in the production?  Or something in my house?

[paperweights]

Did you do something to clean this after you bought it.  It looks like the entire surface is fractured.  Could someone have put it in a dishwasher?  Or was it packed in luggage on a trip?

[dreama]

Nope, none of the above.  It has not been in the dishwasher, and sits on shelf with other PWs. it has not moved, in 6 months.  I bought it 6 months ago, it came through the mail, I  bought it online.  The PW was nice, no cracks and very few if any scratches.  But now, It is completly covered, in this peeling even the polished bottom looks like the rest.  It has had the dust wiped off, with a damp cotton cloth, no soap a few times when dusting.  I dont use any soaps, or adbrasives on any of my glass.  It is only the outer layer that is cracked, and peeling.  Thats why I thought it may have been sprayed to cover any marks.  But now after seeing pics of crizzling, i do think that is what it is.  And if I am reading right, it  is a degradation process. It is caused by an inherent fault in the chemical composition of the original glass formula.  Please let me know if this is correct ?

[mildawg]

Here is a thread with links to other threads discussing this sort of thing.

http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,13283.msg86784.html#top

[dreama]

That link is very interesting, oak for me it not the answer.  Mainly because my PWs are on a shelf, not encased in glass.  The shelf is not oak, but a cheap pressed board. I do have a glass case, but I dont keep the PWs in it, its full of old cambridge and hesiey, and a few fenton pieces.  I live in  a very low humidity place, it is very dry here.  I checked all the weights i have and none feel oily, and none are cloudy.  I also did not notice any smell at all.  That includes the crackled one. Which does not really match what I have read, about weeping glass. But it does look like crizzling.  And whatever is peeling is glass, and sharp thats for sure.  If not crizzle then what?  I know nothing of that spray on glass, but could that maybe be whats happened and not crizzling? I have several other degenhart weights, grave markers and even a gear shift knob and they are all still fine.

[dreama]

I read that high alkali glass causes crizzling, anyone know if thats correct?

[Nick77]

Hi

This link in the before mentioned thread  seems quite a likely candidate http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2005/September/26090501.asp

As mentioned in that thread pressed board as you mention your shelf is made of (presumably MDH or chipboard/particle board) are made with Formaldehyde resins which as the link states  could cause the degradation. Also as it mentions the sticky surface residue could be Sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) which is highly toxic, best not to taste it!

Also if I read it correctly you seem to say you use a product called no soap what is this made of?

It has had the dust wiped off, with a damp cotton cloth, no soap a few times when dusting.

Nick

[dreama]

No, I meant I used No soap, not a product, just plain water and a soft cloth.  The shelfs are pressed board, but they are painted.  I have several PWs on these shelves, more degenharts, mosser, and gentile.  None did what this one did yet.  None ever felt oily, or wet.  I found no crystals on any of them before this, and none became foggy or cloudy.  This one was never cloudy, oily, or wet.  It is also is not the oldest one I have on the shelves.  This peeling, happened within a matter of days, with no other signs of problems. I found there are conflicting reports on why crizzling happens, here is one link

http://www.cmog.org/glass-dictionary/crizzling

http://arthistory.about.com/od/glossary/g/c_crizzling.htm

Then there are the links above that you mentioned about oak, and cabinets.

The pics do look like what has happened to my PW but, there is no clouding.  If you look closely at my pic, it is very clear.  The glass is not at all cloudy, like the one in the link below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_disease

There was something strange about the PW that did that, at least to me.  It was a weight that said, elisabeth degenhart, first lady of glass.   I have seen ones like that that are very similiar, but all have a 'D"  on the name plate, this one did not.  So, it was my thought, it may have been a second, or mistake, or made by Boyd who bought degenhart, after elisabeth died any Body took over.  I am not sure if that is important, or not, but its just a thought.