Topic: Sam Herman Vase?

[chopin-liszt]

Dip mould. Illustrated.
https://www.cmog.org/glass-dictionary/dip-mold

Thanks for the info about your weights, Tom. I'm sure I used to think the mould(s) came along a bit later, but I'm also sure something I encountered contradicted that, recently.
You have confirmed my suspicions of the contradiction.
They must have got hold of one at least, pretty early on, certainly Harris period.

[tmmorg]

Thank you for clarifying the dip mould, Sue. Much appreciated. I'm still not sure I understand fully how this creates the stripes? Foolishly, I always thought the colours were 'pierced' into the weights if that makes sense, with the use of some sort of large needle. Writing this down I suddenly realise how silly that sounds 

[chopin-liszt]

It creates valleys in the surface of a gather when the hot glass is pressed down into it.
Silver salts could be introduced to the valleys, or the mould might be lined with them.
 
But possibly best ask a glassmaker how exactly they are used to create coloured stripes.
Silver chloride is a nasty substance that melts from solid to liquid in heat. I've never encountered it, only seen its effects with glass. Silver nitrate is a damp, gritty, white crystaline "powder" that sucks water out of the air and tries to dissolve itself. It burns everything it touches, no heat required to get it to do that.
I imagine powdered enamels would be much easier to work with and could be put inside the mould. A slick of oil with a paintbrush would hold powder in place. (That's what I used when having a go at copper enamelling.)

I have no idea what dangers and horrors folk in glass studios were doing to themselves, playing with these sorts of lab chemicals without proper training and protective equipment.

[glassobsessed]

The dip mould create grooves in the gather, my guess it is then rolled across a marver to pick up whatever is used to colour a given pattern such as a coloured enamel. The gather could be blown or is this case further worked before or after the pick up depending on the design required.

There are lots of weights photographed sitting on various shelves etc in Mark Hill's book, hard to see any detail in most of them but some are swirled like this one.

[chopin-liszt]

I can see that working with powdered enamels, I'm really not at all sure about the silver salts. They are really horrible chemicals, and they don't behave at all nicely.
I had one ancient lab coat I kept for when I had to use silver nitrate. It is covered in brown spots and holes.
The top won't go back on the bottle, because of it dissolving itself in the moisture from the air. It all creeps up and recrystallises in the screw top, bits break off.
It is almost impossible to control it. And it's really expensive. 
I have not ever used silver chloride.

[Greg.]

I see the vase that started this thread is back on the market, caveat emptor!

[chopin-liszt]

  I take it it is not properly described? (I've had a look but didn't find it.)

[Greg.]

Its still described as previously sold, if you search under Samuel Herman you should see it.

[chopin-liszt]

I'm not signed up to ebay any more and don't seem to be able to search it. I can't do much of anything with the pc since windoze 7 died. 

[tmmorg]

Thank you Sue and John, for the info about the dip moulding, fascinating and much appreciated.
Yes Greg, that was a quick turn around. I must add I made a well below asking price  offer if anyone fancies it 😂