Topic: Peach and white cased jack-in-the-pulpit vase

[obscurities]

Please....   I would love to know the process....  Craig

[uphoosier]

Yes, James.  I can't understand how the color could only be on one side of the glass if not applied.  But then, I can't even ice a cake

[jsmeasell]

Here's the procedure for the controlled fade:

Gather a very small quantity of colored glass on a blowpipe. Shape at finisher's bench by using a tool that looks like an ice cream scoop (we call this a "hand block"). Then, introduce compressed air into the the blowpipe until the colored glass literally "pops".

Next, gather heat sensitive opalescent glass (contains bone ash) over the colored glass. This is the typical casing procedure (you could use opaque white "Milk Glass" also). Shape and cool the glass in a larger block (not hand held, it's usually set on a marver).

After warming in, blow gently and, at the bench, use the traditional jacks tool to create the essentially globular shape of this vase (very simple operation, even I can do it). The area nearest the blowpipe is now pretty narrow.

While the glass is still on the blowpipe, a bit of another glass is brought over and the skilled glassworker pulls out and shapes those feet (this happens quickly and takes skill and a good eye--I can't even come close to doing it!). Then a punty rod is used to stick up the piece right amongst the feet and the piece is cracked off the blowpipe (cool the narrow area with a bit of water; we use an ordinary bottled water bottle with the cap on and a tiny hole in the cap to squeeze out a stream of just a few drops).

Warm-in at glory hole to get that narrow top area hot and then use tools to flare it out, create the crimping, and the jack in the pulpit shape. Crack off the punty rod and carry-in the piece to the lehr.

There may be more warming-in steps than I've indicated. The chilling and subsequent warming-in will cause that heat sensitive opalescent glass to strike and become nearly opaque white (if you heat it a little too much, then it starts to become translucent on the way to transparent, but subsequent chilling and reheating will bring back the opacity).

The key to the controlled fade is the first step, i. e., getting the gather of the small amount of colored glass to pop. If it doesn't pop, the next gather will result in regular cased glass which has a the colored interior top to bottom of the finished piece. The result of this is that the colored glass is only on the "inside" of the piece near the top and it "fades" into the color that has been gathered over it.     
   

[obscurities]

Thank You, I learned something that is actually quite interesting... I would not have imagined it to be done that way......

Craig

[uphoosier]

Yes, thank you.  Makes me wonder if the "pop" technique was a stroke of genius, or just serendipity.