Topic: Val St Lambert - Just for show...

[Anne Tique]

Hello everybody,

I was hoping if anybody could tell me something about this type of glass, that I know of but am unfamiliar with.

I did not know VSL did neodymium glass, just for fun I tried under uv light to see what happens and the thing lits up but all violet. This vase dates from the period 1951-1958 and it shows blue on the image, but as I'm standing next to it, the colour is fluorescent pink. On the image in the dark, you can see some pink on the left, while actually the whole vase has this colour but for some reason does not come through on the photo. Is it normal for this type of glass to react like that under uv light?

[Lustrousstone]

Nice one. Neodymium glass should look different colours in fluorescent and incandescent light. I don't know what that UV effect is but lead crystal often looks bluish under UV

[Anne Tique]

Thanks for that Christine, I did not know.


Next to a lamp it gets an aqua marine like colour. Again, doesn't  show well but the colour is throughout the piece.

[Lustrousstone]

 

[Anne Tique]

I finally managed to get the colour that I mentioned before on an image, just with a proper camera. I haven't worked on the image or touched it up, tis is what I get with UV light. I've got a total of 8 different colours with this piece, depending on the type of light. This pink shows up with UV, and other colours vary between mauve, violet, blue, blue-grey and dark grey with daylight, ceiling light, a torch shining inside it shows bright blue, camera flash and it goes grey, sideboard lamp shows agua-marine/turquoise … and it goes on and on...very entertaining but it's wearing me out.

[flying free]

I had a bowl like that (in that under certain light it just views as a dull grey almost grey transparent glass if you like.) I'll see if I can find pics on the board somewhere.
It was bright green in the charity shop I bought it from. Looked fabulous (very Scandinavian looking).
Got it home, unpacked the bag in great excitement ... and what came out was a knicker-elastic pink bowl.  Hugely disappointing.
I sold it to a friend in the end,  who has displayed it under a fabulous funky neon light thing, where it views as pink in the daylight but goes green when she turns on that light in her sitting room. 

Edit - Bowl is here - there may be some info that might help you search - rare earths? dichroic?
https://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,29702.msg160887.html#msg160887

[Anne Tique]

Looks like you've enjoyed yourself too, it really is difficult trying to show what you're talking about with this type of glass.

I've taken several pictures and these are the ones that resemble most to what i'm seeing with different lightsources.

The bright pink one in the post above is taken with UV light, as I mentioned before. I've left the piece in place and switched on the main ceiling light, and it turned a darker violet if not mauve, darker than the  colour by daylight on my coffee table, at the very top of this page.
I then switched off the light, and held a small LED torch in it, and it turned bright blue. Finally, I took a picture with flash and it turned dark grey. 

[Anne Tique]

I then placed the vase on a sideboard … (yes, some people still have sideboards  ) … switched on another ceiling light but here it's closer to it and it turned a bit more violet (the blue is a reflection of the telly) ....switched it off, lit the lamp next to it, and it turns to this nice aqua-marine type of  colour … can't think of what else to call it.

[flying free]

Nice pictures and a very good visual of the colour changes under lighting.

m

[Anne Tique]

I thought maybe these two pieces are of interest here, not sure if I should add them to the Studio Glass thread but I can always do so later.

The smaller one, the first image,  i spotted in Germany and i liked it because it is, shape wise, so very different of what he has done for VSL before. The other one i got because i like its colours,  partly iridescent shine and because it is such a whopper of a vase. It measures H 33cm/13" x D 26,5 cm/10,5" and it weighs 8 kgs.

Both pieces are signed Val Saint-Lambert - Samuel Herman and dated 1979. The smaller one is nr 252 and the large one nr 125.

Sam Herman has been invited by VSL on several occasions and on one of these, in 1979 he produced 300 one-off pieces  for VSL, not for a specific series but all unique pieces. I did not know this until I came across the smaller one of the two and started looking in to it and found the info mentioned earlier. I was wondering what inspired him, how to call such a vase like the smaller one, how he coped with the weight    and basically, everything that I can find out about them ….so I thought, why not contact him? And so i did! 

I received, very quickly I have to say even though he apologised, a very nice reply.

Dear Anne,

please excuse the delay in answering your email.

After looking at the photographs you sent me, I'm afraid that I'm unable in an exact way to determine when these pieces were made. I went to Val three of four different times. One time as you know I designed the El Dorado line. The other times I made my own individual pieces. Certainly, the smaller one you have is a very fine one. Unfortunately, I cannot say how many individual pieces I made at Val as it was a long time ago and I did not keep any records.

With regards to your questions, these pieces were made and sold before I could name them. I should state that I don't always name my pieces. The smaller piece is done with side prunts. This is achieved by dipping the body of the glass into the molten glass in the furnace. Of course adding colors and designs added at the right point of the build up of the work.

With regards to the weight of a piece and handling it, in my own studio I had the workbench very close to the furnace and made all my pieces by myself without any help. Most artists have assistance or a team to help them. In Val with big pieces I had lots of help in handling the glass.

My interest in the smaller piece that you own is that it showes that technique very clearly.

I hope that my explanation has been of some help  to you.

Thanking you again for your interest and of course collecting my work.

With many good wishes.


Sam




It is very nice, and i have to say a bit unreal, to have a chat with the artist about the piece that you have standing in your living room but it does add something special...difficult to put in words.