Topic: Davidsons slag glass bird. ID = Modern Chinese

[rosieposie]

There are a couple of us ladies on the wrong side of 60 Stew,  so don't let that worry you.
If your little bird were in a colourway I didn't have, I would be offering to buy it.
I always think the term Slag Glass sounds a bit negative,  and the few I have sold on eBay I have always described as Chinese Art Glass, and given a close up of what, in my opinion, is a very attractive 'feather' effect where the colours are mixed.  They have always sold for around £4 - £5 so I have been content with that.

[KevinH]

The "hand blown" description for solid glass items is often seen and has been used for many years. Unfortunately, the confusion is made worse by items which have a genuine company (or importer?) "hand blown glass" label attached!

Negative responses from various sellers have been discussed at length in the Cafe and elsewhere. But my favourite response is of the type, "It is my own research" when I make an enquiry about background to an attribution. There is never any information given about what research has been done or when and where!

As for Slag Glass, it is not uniquely English. However, some examples of the English (Tyneside) type are given below which might help to show the difference between that type and the Chinese (or other) "streaky / marbled" form.

[Paul S.]

my two penn'th as usual...........

When something has become part of acceptable standard language, then whether right or wrong, we have to go with the flow it seems.         

However, we've been down this road before, and seem to recall coming to the conclusion that those swirl coloured pieces, whatever the colours (but which include white, usually) might be more correctly termed marbled Vitro-Porcelain.
Sowerby initially created a product which they called Malachite, and this was offered in blue, brown, and the obvious green (the alternative name for Malachite may well have been Sorbini, but not entirely sure).
Malachite then seems to have been superseded by New Marble Glass   -  they all have this general look of marbling.
I like the States take on the purple and white effect which they seem to call blackberries and cream.

But coming back to the word slag - now so well embedded in the glass world that pieces showing a marbled effect will doubtless never be called anything else  -  the following may be of interest...........

Somewhere around the beginning of the 1880's, Sowerby's advertised a specific factory product which they called 'slag' glass.      According to Slack............    "This was a type of glass that was black by reflected light and either a bottle-green or dark purple colour by transmitted light.   As far as is ascertainable this was the only coloured glass that was termed 'slag' glass and it always appeared semi-opaque, being made in the same manner as cheap bottle glass.             Apparently it was a short-lived product and was superseded by a dense black opaque glass which was advertised throughout the 1880's as 'Jet'."

Whether or not slag actually ever found its way into the pots (deliberately or accidentally), may not be known........Lattimore believed it was added deliberately, but can't imagine that scum from the smelting works would have improved anything.            It may just have been a comment that was repeated down the years without question.
The other less than technical name was 'end of day glass', and this does now seem to have been a notion dispelled completely.

Anyway, nice piece of 'slag' glass Stew
 

[stew2u2]

Trying to take it all in. i like blackberry and cream sounds good to me. the word slag to me means the leftover rubbish at the bottom of a coke works thought slag glass might have been the same

[rosieposie]

Paul and Kevin as always, give a clear explaination of slag glass.
Like Stew,  I too see it as a slightly derogatory description, conjuring up images of cleaning out the coke slag at the bottom of our old boiler!! 
These little birds seem to be composed of pretty fused canes and the feather effect is remarkably life like.  I have some wondeful examples of them which I am very happy to share should any of you wish to see closer pictures.
To me though,  the most important fact is that these are Chinese, although sold extensively as any other make rather than say they are Chinese, and yet they were never made or intended to deceive,  unlike many Chinese pieces made these days.

These little birds always left the glass studio proudly bearing the 'Made in China' Oval Label.