Topic: Another question - is yellow glass particularly difficult to make?

[keith]

Does this apply to 'modern' pieces? the two on the right are quite new.......

[chopin-liszt]

I would imagine it's the platinum that causes the problems - and the difficulty of yellow probably only applies to old stuff - and there will be differences in how difficult cadmium and platinum are.
Platinum is one of the most inert metals - even more so than gold, so it IS going to cause problems!

I don't know how modern colours are produced or made. They're mostly bought in from a supplier, rather than glassmakers making their own, nowadays.

[antiquerose123]

 :thup: :thup:  Super info there.  I thought maybe just a little difficult, but that article makes it sound much more difficult.  So super Info here.

@ Rose - Yeah, I know you did -- but I just never realized it was hard to make, I just thought maybe it was not a well liked color in the Glass world. 

Now WE all have to load up on Vintage Yellow Glass.  Keith has a head start on us!  LOL

[Adam]

I remember making two very different yellows at two factories.  At Sowerbys we made a small amount of something like yellow which was simply a paler version of our standard amber.  In both cases the colourant was powdered coke in a non-oxidising glass.  We used covered pots otherwise there might have been stability problems.  There was never any trouble with amber and I don't remember any with yellow although very little was made.  I can only remember making pattern 2652 cake plates and possibly fruit sets in this colour.  I'm not sure but I don't think the colour was even listed in any catalogue.  There certainly was no huge demand!

At Davidsons our compositions were more sophisticated, but in many cases very empirical indeed.  We had a requirement for a cadmium yellow for fog lamps which we made successfully but only in small numbers.  I was not aware of any request from the domestic people to make any for them but I don't know whether lack of demand or the cost put them off.  Cadmium was the main colourant but it was a complicated batch but I would need time to dig out details.  Certainly no platinum!!  Where did that idea come from?  I don't know how I would introduce platinum to a glass composition even if I wanted to.  I suppose some organic compound might do it but why?  Platinum metal itself is extremely resistant to corrosion by molten glass and is widely used for electrodes, orifice rings and even pots (I've seen some the size of a bucket) for technical, very pure glasses.  The accountants loved it because even a small level if inflation meant that the scrap value when a a piece was taken out of service paid for the replacement!

I did have one adventure with a pot of yellow at Davidsons which I described on GMB years ago (probably under the heading of "tatying").  I can probably find it but I am sure Anne will beat me to it with her usual magic!

Adam D.

[flying free]

Thanks so much Adam for looking in and for the very informative answer  and to everyone who supplied information.
So, perhaps it was a mixture of events that dictated the use of yellow, fashion (demonstrated by the lack of demand on the domestic sales side, but that might have been down to knowing the cost therefore not pushing the demand) and possibly also the cost of the cadmium both in terms of the  buying the cadmium in and sourcing it,  but also man hours to make if it was a difficult batch.  Therefore more expedient to stick with the colours more readily available and more  easily controlled.
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[rosieposie]

Hi Adam......I thought I read in Scavo's link that platinum was used for turning glass yellow.....but I must confess to speed reading it......I will read it over again when I have a new brain in the morning, and see what it was I saw that made me think that's what it was saying. :pb:

[KevinH]

Within the Google Books search results from Scavo's link above, there are references to "platinum colouring glass". But the context is not as may be first thought. It is stated that at Corning Glass Works, the Experimental Melting dept. use platimun crucibles which occasionally cause colour problems, with some glass being coloured "yellow or orange or gray".

See page 218 of the Google Book detail for the starting point of that discussion.

[Lustrousstone]

Isn't the problem with yellow opaque/translucent glass that is a primary yellow (uranium yellow shades are no problem)

[scavo]

I must confess to not having the patience to read a text like that to the level of understanding it. All I did was speed-read it so I knew I was talking about the subject of yellow glass. So is the book talking about unintentional yellowing of glass that was desirous of clear?

It did cross my mind about yellow uranium glass. Am I right in thinking yellow UV glass is rarer than green?
What about citrine glass? As Christine says, these are not that uncommon - also transparent.

I wonder also if the problem has also been overcome in recent times (Sue).

I'm not convinced that the lack of yellow glass is down to public taste alone. Conversely, if it is something that requires special skills, materials etc. I would expect there to be an element of speculative consumption going on in the primary market and therefor a cache in finding it now?

[Lustrousstone]

All uranium glass is yellow unless you add something else to it. With uranium, it's a fashion/market thing.

As Christine says, these are not that uncommon

That wasn't what I said