Glass Message Board

Glass Discussion & Research. NO IDENTIFICATION REQUESTS here please. => Glass Reference Websites => Topic started by: Frank on July 24, 2007, 09:17:33 PM

Title: Frank's websites
Post by: Frank on July 24, 2007, 09:17:33 PM
Ysartglass.com (http://www.ysartglass.com/) It all started with newsletters I published in the 1980/90's on Monart, Vasart and Strathearn and the book in 1990... they went on line circa 1999 and it slowly grew. 2001 saw me classed as to old to work and I worked full time on the site for 2 years and went through two complete makeovers. It still has some loose ends and a backlog of images to put live but the way it was built got too labour intensive and I needed to find an income. My personal view is that Ysart Glass is the result of well over 100 collectors sharing their knowledge - a superb example of collaborative publishing! It's peak was a glass conference organised via the GMB in Scotland - a great success.  Parts of Ysartglass will be migrating to Scotland's Glass in the future. But the core will remain.

Scotland's Glass (http://www.scotlandsglass.co.uk/) initially started as a list of people recorded in research on Scottish Glass but quickly turned into a more ambitious scheme to record everyone who had or has worked in glass. A task much to big for one person to achieve. It has been built using software that allows anyone to get involved in building the site and it is very close to being stable enough for others to join in with me to continue its growth. I am not actively looking for people yet, but if anyone who is already doing research in the area is interested - do get in touch.

The Glass Zoo (http://www.glasszoo.info/) Several years ago I decided to put some examples of the lampwork animals made by Pirelli Glass onto the Ysart site, just to expand on the existing article. Well, it seemed to attract interest and I got infected by others enthusiasm... the collection grew and naturally other makes crept in, research started to throw up interesting snippets... but there was virtually nothing written outside of the USA on the vast array of glass figures made by almost every glassworks on the planet! I thought hey, I can do a Scotland's Glass for animals to give collectors a way of expanding knowledge together. However, my financial problems deteriorated and I need to either close my sites or charge. I decided to introduce a subscription system - the only problem was would people contribute and pay or would they pay and still contribute? A few months down the line the answer has proven yes. And this site covers the basic expenses for all the above. Once a security hole is repaired the images in the Zoo can be referenced anywhere for discussion - as with any book but with just a little more freedom as long as they are fully link-referenced and the copyright respected.

The Glass Study (http://www.glass-study.com/) This is the end result of a business concept that has been planned for five years, but having got seriously burnt with one publishing venture, I needed someone to take on the role of managing the business while I dealt with the publishing. A couple of candidates were found but both withdrew so I switched the concept to an on-line facility and the first part of this was a five year project to digitise over 400 books and original catalogues.
Phase one of this effort (books & periodical only) is a fully searchable library which I hope will ultimately offer free access, phase two The Glass Catalogue (http://www.glasscatalogue.com/) does the same for the original catalogues but not in the way it is normally done. Phase three will follow when those are complete - although adding more texts will continue indefinitely. In order to do this I need to make my living from it and I have set an annual subscription of 30 Euros. Membership to the Glass-Study gives free membership to the Glass-Catalogue and The Glass Zoo. It is my hope that the membership reaches sufficient levels that a charitable fund can start to be built and eventually its income reduce and then replace subscriptions. I know I can build a site with voluntary help from the glass community, can I build one with funding from the glass community is another question... I do not know!

The Glass Catalogue (http://www.glasscatalogue.com/) was opened this week but is very much in a beginning state and until it has some complete catalogues included is only accessible to Glass-Study members.

Thanks for reading all that!

Note: All sites respect copyright and in the Glass-Study publications that are still in copyright will be fully indexed so that searches at least reveal where to find information. Out of copyright material is fully digitised. This means that there will be erroneous information being republished - where it is known the text is annotated to indicate the items of concern. Visitors can also advise of errors and the information added to the original text. Spelling mistakes are corrected where certain and highlighted if questionable. All images are fully restored and very high resolution copies are stored for use in books etc.

It is intended to provide language facilities for the major European languages and with assistance any language can be added for navigation. 
There is no direct connection between my websites and Angela Bowey's sites other than references in various threads and posts and my signature line of course.
Title: Re: Franks websites
Post by: Frank on October 06, 2007, 12:11:28 PM
OK Kev, most of my glass projects are very long term and I always seem to have several thousand images waiting to be uploaded.

Update on the Glass Catalogue. It now has a few complete catalogue contents, Moser 1948, Stevens and William 1893, Bruder Rachmann 1907, Chance Bros 1930 and is also being used for Glass-Study member projects, two that show on this site are Decorated Glassware and Numbered Glassware. I expect to offer direct subscriptions to this site in early 2008, Glass Study subscribers have full access now.

Update on Scotland's Glass: Over 2,500 Scottish glass items in catalogues illustrated by over 6,000 images - still a drop in the ocean. Biggest need for this site is articles from others with an interest in Scottish Glass including active glass workers. Latest addition has been the work of fused and stained glass artist Eilidh Mackenzie, an article will be appearing shortly. The forums are starting to get used too. A recent addition has been a catalogue section on Scottish themes, glass decorated with Scottish motifs but possibly, or certainly, not made in Scotland, for example exhibition ware and commemorative pieces of glass.

Update on Glass Zoo. Growing steadily 434 figures, over half of which are identified, some with several examples - coverage is lampwork, blown, moulded, sculpted glass with the only criteria being animal shape or human shape, including abstract but excluding decoration... although if anyone wanted to use the site to showcase their collection of animal decoration on glass - get in touch. This site has a very long way to go, as glass has been used for figures since Egyptian times as well as by almost every glassworks in addition to all the homeworkers!

Update on Glass Study. 80% of my time is on this site which is intended to provide me with an income as well as build a fund to allow preservation of web-sites. Currently well over 2,000 pages of content, mostly from obscure and scarce resources (Books, articles, extracts, magazines, directories and ephemera.) and growing weekly. While intended to be fully multilingual only the German navigation is complete. Content is mostly English (US, UK and International) but there is some German language content and one item on sheet glass in four languages (adding French and Spanish). Criteria of inclusion is glass.

If anyone would like to get involved in translating the navigation and all site notices to any other language, they will get a free subscription. German translation involved about two weeks work, and ongoing occasional updates - you must be willing to commit to maintain for 5 years and provide references.

Update on Ysart Glass. Very little other than minor corrections and additions, a large project on Moncrieff trademarks is nearly complete with 8 pages being added in the near future.
Title: Re: Franks websites
Post by: Frank on February 29, 2008, 02:29:09 PM
Update: A fully researched update to my original bibliography is now available free to all on the Glass-Study. Built and still growing with community help.

Early version of the software has some problems but is generally usable. Use the Search field not the Author/Title filter to locate text in the abstracts etc. After the first search more search options are available.

Authors, publishers and collectors are asked to give details of books, articles, catalogues and CDs etc. published post 1940 to help it grow. Opinions and reviews are accepted in any language.

The format used is a public one that allows subsets to be downloaded for inclusion in other more specialised bibliographies, various free software exists for presenting it on web pages. Anyone copying the entire database will be deemed in breach of copyright, so please discuss your intentions first and always provide a link to the original source which will be subject to ongoing review.

As with all my sites there are no commercial aspects. If you want to obtain one of the books listed you will have to find it yourself. The original biblio spawned many requests to buy the books listed.  ::)
Title: Re: Franks websites
Post by: Frank on February 29, 2008, 03:46:33 PM
At some stage a list of antiquarian booksellers will be added. People can always help voluntarily support the effort by joining one of the pay sites - and gaining additional benefit too.

Also, as I will be getting institutional help in populating for post 1940, that would also give cause for some to back away as their rules preclude providing for commercial purposes. Without such help it would be impossible to make this comprehensive.
Title: Re: Franks websites
Post by: josordoni on February 29, 2008, 03:57:03 PM
At some stage a list of antiquarian booksellers will be added. People can always help voluntarily support the effort by joining one of the pay sites - and gaining additional benefit too.

Also, as I will be getting institutional help in populating for post 1940, that would also give cause for some to back away as their rules preclude providing for commercial purposes. Without such help it would be impossible to make this comprehensive.

that makes sense, and that kind of funding should bring you in a sight more than just commissions. 

Title: Re: Franks websites
Post by: Frank on February 29, 2008, 04:08:52 PM
Not funding, just data.
Title: Re: Franks websites
Post by: josordoni on February 29, 2008, 04:10:04 PM
oh that's a shame...

institutional funding would be very useful  Is there no EU grant money for research available?
Title: Re: Franks websites
Post by: Frank on February 29, 2008, 06:10:36 PM
Not without a piece of paper that I don't have. So I just rely on collectors and dealers who have benefited from what I do by subscribing. Quite a few do. But it also has to be borne in mind that hundreds of people have shared pictures, snippets of knowledge. So in that sense the free parts is payback to them. The sharing economy is still a relatively small part of the web and has reached the stage where sophisticated software that is almost as good as the paid for stuff is widely available. The knowledge sharing part has yet to provide support for the gatherers and providers that are raising the quality of based material in many areas.

The Glass Zoo is proof that the concept of paying a little for access to a site can work, before the Zoo existed only a handful of Pirelli lampwork had been identified - in the Zoo it is over 140 now and several previously unknown makers have emerged. I expect the Glass-Catalogue will also prove popular once it is possible to subscribe to it, the Glass-Study is something else and most people doubt it is worth joining. In fact I have had more nasty, obscene and abusive mails about being greedy then members so far. Yet it has already unlocked knowledge for many queries on the GMB and for its members. Being a pioneer is never easy and it will take several years to fully implement the entire concept that has been planned. The current annual fee will increase substantially as the volume of contents grows.
Title: Re: Franks websites
Post by: Frank on April 11, 2008, 03:45:47 PM
The Zoo continues its growth - thanks everyone: Of course not just animals... figurals too!

Well over 600 inmates with over 2,000 images including:

American Glass Co. - Avon Cosmetic - Baccarat - Balmers Glass Fabrications - Bayel - Bols - Bridge Crystal - ? Burke (US) - Caithness Glass Co. Ltd. - CALP (RCR) - Cambridge Glass US - Central Glass Co. - Chance - Charleton - Chatur & Co. Derbyshire & Sons - Duncan and Miller - Harry Ellaway - Exbor - Fenton - Wynand Fockink - Fostoria Glass Company - G Marquet, Veuve et Fils, Verreries SA. - Glassbobbery - Goebel - Goose-Khrystalny Glassworks - Gozo Glass, Malta. - Heisey - Heron Glass - Holmegaard - Iittala - Imperial Glass Co. James Powell & Sons - Jangles - Kristaluxus - Lalique - Langham Glass Ltd - Lauscha - Libbey Glass - Liberty Glass Co. - Libochovice CZ - Lindshammar Glasbruk - Marcolin Art Crystal - Matrau - Mdina Glass - Mikasa - Alessandro Moretti - Morgantown Glass - Mosser Glass - Mtarfa Glass Blowers Ltd. - Murano, Italy - Nachtmann Bleikristall - Nazeing Glass Works Ltd. - New Martinsville - Ngwenya Glass - Nuutajärvi-Notsjö glass - Owens Illinois Glass Co. - Paden City Glass - Pirelli Glass Ltd, UK - Powell/Whitefriars - Pukeberg Glasbruk - Reijmyre Glasbruk - richardson - Riihmäen lasi - Rynbende - Sabino - Schade & Buysing - Selkirk Glass - Sklo Union - L E Smith - Spojené České Sklárny - Steuben Glass Works - Swarovski - Vasart - Verrerie d'Art de Bendor - Walther - Waterford Crystal - Wedgwood Glass - Whitefriars. And many others

Countries:


Africa, Austria, China, Czechoslovakia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Éire, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, Japan, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Spain, Swaziland, Sweden, Taiwan, UK, Ukraine, USA.

Lots more to come!
Title: Re: Franks websites
Post by: Frank on May 05, 2008, 07:23:34 PM
Scotland's Glass nearly has 3,000 items in the catalogue now, a lot more from Edinburgh Crystal will be added this week and with help from Josordoni and Wolf just completed Caithness paperweights from 1969-1979 - there will be more images added to those as available at some point in the future.

Please support Scotlands Glass by signing up to one of my pay-sites,  :D purse is a little bare  :-\ Zoo costs just 10 Euros per 2 years and the Glass Study/Catalogue 30 per year (first year not officially started yet.)
Title: Re: Franks websites
Post by: Frank on May 12, 2008, 10:20:21 AM
Newly discovered Pirelli fish and a rare (because they are not widely known) Guy Underwood fish. Plus US figurals are expanding.

With over 150 Pirelli figures listed, just 38 are illustrated with only catalogue images. It does not mean they are scarce but just not typical of Pirelli so would not otherwise have been recognised without a label.

Scotland's Glass is seeing several hundred Caithness and Edinburgh Crystal items added in the last few weeks and many hundreds more will be added in coming weeks. A lot of articles are being prepared by other authors.

Ysart Glass has been having corrections made but no additions lately - although a number of new pages on Moncrieff are nearing completion.

The Glass Catalogue and Glass-Study just keep growing,

Overall, I have added about 10,000 images to the various sites in the past year. A similar number are queued for editing and uploading.
Title: Re: Franks websites
Post by: Frank on June 05, 2008, 11:29:20 AM
Contents of the Glass-Study - June 2008 - approximately 1,700 pages and an unknown number of fully restored images.
For the Glass Catalogue contents see the site front page http://www.glasscatalogue.com/ (Currently 2,000 individual items organised by multiple categories not as page scans! All images are restored and most are 600 pixels on longest side.)

German text - about 600 pages
Der Saarkalender 1923 (Glasindustrie) - Article 4 pages
Buch der Erfindungen (1880) - Article on World Fairs (transcribed from Fraktur) 19 pages
Map - Oberpfelz (Huge zoomable image 30x30cm of Bavarian industry)
Stern-Glashütte Actiengesellschaft (c1900) booklet illustrating cylinder glass making.
Zwischen Iser und Neisse (1900) Book about North Bohemian Glass industry 152 pages, 15 missing.
Adressbuch Deutschlands Glasindustrie (1925) Trade directory - Glassworks, Decorators and related services. 420 pages

French text - about 70 pages
Verreries de l’Étoile Belgique  (c1900) booklet illustrating cylinder glass making.
Annuaire de la Verrerie et de la Céramique 1907 Global multilingual trade directory. (1400 pages!! - Currently digitising glass entries 67 pages completed)

Spanish text - about 16 pages
Fábricas de la Estrella Roja Belgica (c1900) booklet illustrating cylinder glass making.

English text - about 1052 pages
n.b. (INDEX ONLY) means that a text index with pagination has been built, this is only intended for finding references. Images are described. - you still have to buy the book to get meaning!
Cameo Incrustation 1988 (INDEX) Paul Jokelson 40 pages
The Glass Cone (INDEX) Nos 011 - 24 complete 1986-89 112 pages

BOOKS - FULL TEXT and Images
France and the Republic, 1890 (Extract regarding glass) 15 pages
German Glass Industry. 1945 - 130 pages
Hand-blown Domestic Glassware. 1947 working party report, mostly on Stourbridge. 140 pages
Hoppus Practical Measurer 1893 (Extract) 5 pages
Little Journeys to the Homes of Eminent Artists (USA)(Extract) 2 pages
Personal Memoirs of a Residence of 30 Years With The Indian Tribes (USA)(Extract) 4 Pages
Scottish Glass - A Collector's Notes (1958) 18 pages (Also free to view on Scotland's Glass)
Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham (1885 Extract glass entries) 8 pages
The Drama of Glass c1895 by Kate Field - 47 pages

China and Glass RED BOOK 1951 - US Trade directory, glass entries 154 pages


EPHEMERA - FULL TEXT and Images
Chance Glass - Research Notes. D Encill 2007 1 page
The Red Star Glass-Works Co. Belgium  (c1900) booklet illustrating cylinder glass making. c16 pages
The Healing of Nations and the Hidden Sources of Their Strife - 1915 1 page extract
Stevens and Williams - New Services (UK c1900) 5 pages (Full catalogue is in Glass Catalogue this shows the research to date the catalogue and non item pages)
Letters - 1857 Leith Glass Works 2 pages
Leaflet - 1989 - UK, Dudley 1 page
Mixed Batch - July 1958 (Jobling's house journal) 80 pages

Pottery Gazette & Glass Trade Review Magazines (Mostly glass parts only but all pottery adverts named.)
1935 August 105 pages
1949 December 57 pages
1950 January 86 pages
40+ more issues available to be digitised.

Pottery Gazette & Glass Trade Review, Annual directories
1931 Diary - 18 pages so far...
12 various 1910-1960s available to be digitised

Class 56 Glass Patents 1855-79 Abridgements complete, more in hand. 60 pages.
UK Act of Parliament 1818 May 8th 3 pages

Larger copies of all images are available for authors to use in books at a nominal charge. Website owning members may use images on their own sites subject to terms and conditions and prior consent.
Title: Re: Franks websites
Post by: Frank on June 05, 2008, 02:42:28 PM
Missed some:

The Portobello Factory (1966) Article (Also on Scotlands Glass)
Nailsea Glass (1911) Article
Nailsea and other glass (1920) Article
La Granja (1931) Article
Chance Glass Works (1871) Article
Frisco Crystal City (1927) Extract from staff magazine
Title: Re: Franks websites
Post by: Frank on December 15, 2009, 01:51:23 AM
Despite much of this year being taken over by the move to France and making our home habitable whilst living in it! And the preparations for Scotland's 400th Anniversary - researching all the active glass businesses in Scotland and getting Museums on board... not to mention getting a book written (Fortunately I got out of doing that!)

I have just updated the Glass Zoo with a lot of new material, over 800 different figurines: Lampwork, Cast, Moulded, Pressed, Blown... etc. and 3,000 images.

I have also set up the Glass Study Association ( www.glass-study.org ) a non-profit company that is dedicated to the preservation of glass information on the web and the purpose of my paysites - fuller details of this will appear in the near future.

The Glass-Study.com has suffered from the deprivations of my time but I am working on listing a huge database of Czech Glass knowledge by US author Deborah Truitt - this will take many months to complete but will provide a significant resource for glass researchers in the future.

Scotlands's Glass has had a major upgrade that stopped additions for 5 months and has taken a lot of effort as well as costing me hundreds of Euros - a bit difficult with no income... but lots of dedication  ::) A few individuals have helped with the finances - thank you folks. But recently updates have restarted, despite having to still fix 4,000 descriptions in the Glass Images section  :mrgreen: with the 400th Anniversary site also to consider... resources have been stretched but main credit for that goes to David Encill who also contributed a lot of his time for this and designing the Directory of Scottish Glassmakers that I wrote. (With a little help from hundreds of others!). Bonhams Auctioneers financed the printing and hopefully others will cover the distribution costs.

As a side effect of this you will see a lot of features on Scottish Glass in antiques publications in coming months, first already in Collect-It magazine. Also in Scottish Press, magazines and at least BBC Radio so far.

If you want a copy of the brochure posted to you, we do need you to pay the postage so please get in touch. However, if you are in the SGS you will get one in January (If you buy a copy of Brian Blench and Shiona Airlies new book direct from the publisher or on eBay you get one anyway.) They will also be available in Scottish and Glass Museums from January. We will be asking other glass organisations to distribute to their members so no need to ask for one if you belong to such an organisation (feel free to send us contact details for any society you belong too). We will probably make a pdf for downloading too.

Now if you have never considered collecting Scottish glass or glass figurines, now is the time to gain the insights!  :gfit: