Topic: Rubina Verde bowl.

[jsmeasell]

This explanation is basically correct ("A small gather of cranberry glass is put on the pipe.  A larger gather of vaseline glass is then put over the top of the cranberry.  It is blown into a mold, and the cranberry does not expand as far down the mold as does the vaseline"), but there is a vital step that is not mentioned.

The cranberry (we call it "gold ruby" in recognition of industry tradition) is put on the blowpipe by cutting off a small bit from a ruby roll that was made earlier, cooled to room temperature and then reheated in an oven to allow the gold molecules to grow and create the ruby color. After the bit is on the blowpipe, the glassworker (called a "caser" here) shapes the bit with a hand-held tool that looks like an ice cream scoop. Then (THIS IS THE VITAL STEP), the glassworker uses compressed air to blow into the blowpipe until the ruby bit expands "pops" and bursts. Next, the topaz glass is gathered over the gold ruby. When the glass is subsequently blown in a mould, the ruby color is held at the top and only the topaz expands down into the bottom of the mould. If the VITAL STEP is not done, you would simply have an overlay glass, and both colors would expand in the mould.

this is the way Rubina (gold ruby/crystal), Rubina Verde (gold ruby/topaz), etc. were made. We make our Mulberry (gold ruby/blue) the same way, and, if you don't do the VITAL STEP, you get Royal Purple, and overlay color with gold ruby inside and blue outside.   

[Cathy B]

Marvellous information, James!

There's one little bit that I couldn't understand though, and that's how the topaz gather goes over the gold ruby after it has been burst. Doesn't the burst bubble collapse back in on itself under the new gather? Or does the ruby burst bubble harden in the process?