Glass Message Board
Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass Paperweights => Topic started by: AnnieQuilts on January 19, 2014, 02:30:04 PM
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I recently bought a paperweight. It looked like someone had dropped it because the inside had all these what looked like crack lines. The main design was rows of tiny bubbles. The seller said, that it had not been dropped but made that way intentionally by putting the paperweight in cold water while still hot after blowing to form these internal planes that look like crack lines to me. You cannot feel any cracks extending to the surface at all. I bought it because the lines/planes inside were actually quite pretty the way they caught the light. My question is - do they actually make paperweights with what look like crack lines inside? I have not been able to find anything like this on the internet yet.
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Welcome to the board.
A photo of your weight would help a lot. It might have been made that way or the cracks could be as a result of stresses within the crystalline structure of the glass itself.
John
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Sounds like annealing cracks, where the glass is essentially cooled to quick causing it to crack. I suppose it could be intentional for some but is typically not intentional. Pics would help.
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With cracks inside the weight but not on the surface, then ...
1. It is unlikely to have been blown as that would imply a thin hollow ball.
(But many people use the term "blown" erroneously to mean "hand made". The term is also known on import labels for mass produced items out of China).
2. It would be a very skilled process indeed to drop a hot solid ball of glass into cold water and only fracture the inside!!!
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"Crackle" glass is made by briefly dipping hot glass into water. This results in surface fractures that are easily detectible by touch, even if the glass is "healed" by reheating in the glory hole. Internal fractures are the result the item being placed in the annealer too cold, an inadequate annealing cycle, or incompatibilities in the glasses used within the piece. If the fractures seem to run along side a bit of color then incompatibility is the most likely answer. If the fractures are essentially flat planes within the center of the weight, then it is most likely the piece was put away too cold and the annealing process was unsuccessful for that reason.
I too have been told by the seller that internal cracks are a design feature intended by the maker of the weight. That story is pure BS.
It would be possible to crackle a small gather then encase that in additional glass. This would result in a weight where small cracks would be visible running in a thin layer around the interior of the weight. It would not result in flat planes radiating from the center of the weight.
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That story is pure BS.
Usually but not always.
Many paperweights where made at Mdina that were crackled, silver chloride was allowed to flood the cracks before further casing to give the yellow crackle that can be seen in the following two weights (currently on ebay):
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mdina-Paperweight-/131096913007?pt=UK_Art_Glass&hash=item1e85fc246f
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mdina-Glass-Paperweight-Signed-/261378410185?pt=UK_Art_Glass&hash=item3cdb5e06c9
John
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I think Sach is referring to the particular weight the op is talking about John.
It sounds like we've not seen it but Sach has and knows what the cracks look like and therefore whether they were intentional or not :)
m
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I think Sach is referring to the particular weight the op is talking about John.
It sounds like we've not seen it but Sach has and knows what the cracks look like and therefore whether they were intentional or not :)
m
I've not seen this particular weight but I've made all the mistakes I described.
I
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I have not heard that particular line from a seller yet but paperweights are fairly new for me. On the other hand, I must have made nearly every other mistake possible buying glass over the years. All that experience, good and bad does help to inform though.
This was probably my biggest howler: http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,50802.msg287670.html#msg287670
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I, too, have a paperweight that has a crack in it. I was told by the seller that it looks that way because it was stretched? The crack appears on both sides, yet I don't see it going all the way through (meaning I can't see it in the center where the design is located) plus the cracks don't reach to the outside of the weight (it can't be felt), nor on the bottom where it rests. Can anyone tell me whether it's cracked or stretched as the seller claims? Thank you so much. The paperweight is shaped like a heart and was made by Mark Monson (deceased) of Glasshouse Studio. Well, I followed all the directions given to me and I guess I still suck at making the photo smaller. I'll ask one of my kids to help me lol. But in the meantime, if anyone has heard of a paperweight with those attributes and if that's how it was made or if it cracked while being made, let me know! Thank you.
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Hi lillywhite, welcome to the Board.
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