Glass Message Board
Glass Discussion & Research. NO IDENTIFICATION REQUESTS here please. => British & Irish Glass => Topic started by: chopin-liszt on October 30, 2010, 01:57:19 PM
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I treated myself to this just yesterday. I have thought about it long and hard, for a long time, resisting furiously. But, having decided to have it brought out so I could handle and inspect it, and following loads of other outside influences, I raided the emergency-only piggy-bank. :X: for no emergencies!
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more:-
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last two.
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Nice, have you asked Alison for its history yet?
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:thud:
Only brought it home yesterday evening, Frank - I've been in awe of it since, took over 100 pics, had to whittle them down, pc got discombobulated last night, (major BT fault) but I do intend to write to her to ask about it, yes! Trying to get my brain around what to say!
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It's beautiful Sue :mrgreen: Well done.
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I think Michael's actually quite impressed with it too.
I love the contrast between it looking as if it's going to be a "pretty" thing, but it's really full of the horror of the birth, life, death cycle.
Little birds perched on the twigs, dead body impaled on a thorn, baby with the right size of head - but middle-aged man's ugly face (nice contrast to the usual images of the christ-child having a small head - in adult proportions).
The cockerel seems to have a human arm, and I really can't work out what sort of creature the part-snake, part preying mantis, part pea-pod/wormy thing with chicken feet is at all!
It IS beautiful, not pretty at all.
Very hard to photograph - the images are all curved!
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It's fabulous! ....would you ever dare use it as a lamp?! :o :o
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:o that's absolutely gorgeous - I love it.
m
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Oh, Sue! :D :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: That is totally fabulous - in every sense of the word! :D Of course you *HAD* to have it! ;D :hiclp:
I'm so pleased for you! (And, of course, absolutely green with envy! >:D :mrgreen: ;) )
:kissy:
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It's fabulous! ....would you ever dare use it as a lamp?! :o :o
Why not, that is what it is. Has to be tried.
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Why not, that is what it is. Has to be tried.
:o :thud: IMHO opinion, no, it most certainly does NOT 'have' to be tried! >:D :24: Not given all the exquisite work that went into it, never mind what it cost! :-X ;)
Go and try using something less beautiful (and cheaper) as a lamp, Frank ;D :24:
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I would not think twice about using it. I am not like one collector of Rolls Royce's (and Monart) who kept one of his Rolls Royce's in his sitting room great believer in using things for which they are made. Makes for a more beautiful life. But I guess a lot of collectors buy Chinese glass for daily use and moan about it diluting their collecting interests.
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I'm desperate to see what sort of shadows it would cast.
I've tried using a LED torch, but it doesn't *do* what a candle would - the light is directed rather than diffuse.
It is beautifully composed over the surface, images on the far side can be seen through gaps in the near side, it takes my breath away every time I look at it.
(.....one minute interlude while I go and have another gaze.....)
It's busy without being fussy - it is just perfectly complete.
I love it more and more as time passes.
I've written to ask about it.
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:mrgreen:
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great believer in using things for which they are made. Makes for a more beautiful life.
While I absolutely agree with you on one level, Frank, I can't help feeling that some things are just too precious and beautiful to risk using them and causing some injury to them! Especially things I might never be able to replace :spls: Those things I regard as purely ornamental. Like I would never put flowers in a Sam Herman vase (although I know Sue does >:D ;) ) I would use a 'cheap' (not necessarily Chinese, although maybe, if it was pretty enough :P ) vase for that, but I wouldn't moan ;) My tastes are eclectic enough to cope :pb: :24:
I might be tempted to try a tea-light in it, Sue, just to see the effect (and maybe photograph it?) but I would be too afraid of damaging it to leave it with a lighted candle in it! :o
And yes, very :mrgreen:
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That's sort of what I thought I might do.
I'll have to buy a candle, put the whole lot in my light tent and see if I can get an idea and some photographs of what appears.
I'll have to wait until I stop shaking with awe before it, before I try though.
Yesterday, I tried to fill the kettle without taking the lid off first, I counted out exactly the wrong change to buy a sultana bran scone in the baker's and apologised to my reflection in the mirror for accidentally pushing in front of it in the queue.
And those are just the things I remember. :spls:
(The Sam Herman I very occassionaly use for flowers is not signed or marked and is already water damaged. It is also a fabulous shape for flowers. >:D and it's pink.)
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Just extraordinary. :mrgreen: If you don't look carefully (as I didn't until you pointed it out) you'd miss the cleverness in the detail.
I couldn't bring myself to bung a candle in this either, Frank. It seems disrespectful to the artist, given the time, effort and thought put into creating it.
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It seems disrespectful to the artist, given the time, effort and thought put into creating it.
Equally, it could be disrespectful not to put a candle in it. Why go to such effort on a storm lantern if the candlelight did not play a part in seeing the design to its full glory? Why not use an elegant footed vase?
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I completely agree with Frank :hiclp: ,if the item has been made to be used ,be it new or old ,it should be used at least once by its current owner , I use every item that comes to me at least once, and many of my 18thc drinking glasses and goblets are used regularly by myself and trusted guests,no matter what the value of the item , they were all made to be used and to deny the item its original function seems a bit precious to me ,like i said though, with care and consideration for its age and value, i am also sure that a nice drop of Vino tastes much better from a wonderful early goblet.
cheers,
Peter.
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I'm still in a complete tizz about it.
I wrote to Alison and she has very kindly replied.
She remembers doing the work in her Edinburgh studio, so it was made pre-1976.
It was specifically designed to hold a candle - the shadows cast by it are an integral part of the work of art.
If you have it in front of you and can study it, this is really rather obvious - the composition is perfectly complementary all around.
The more you study it, the more amazing and clever you come to realise it is. I did try a tea-light, but the flame is too low down, and the other lighting conditions were not right to obtain shadows.
But the details of the engraving were shown beautifully lit from behind.
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I sort of hoped she would say that as light effects have always been integral to her work, look forward to hearing what the result is, one which will be almost impossible to share with us... lucky you.
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It really wasn't a very successful experiment - I can see things, then try to get the camera between my eyes and the lantern and hope I've got the angle right.
The skull came out fairly spooky - it looks as if some flesh is still stuck to it, yuk!
All the other images were poor, and I was getting scared of doing damage - my jumpers and cardigans kept getting tangled with the velcro in the tent... and I've realised I'm merely the custodian of this major work of art, I have a responsibility to take great care of it.
Alison gave me instructions on how to wash it carefully when it gets all sooted-up.
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ooooh it's fab! so you are using it in the evenings now? ;D I bet it looks at it's best candle lit. How wonderful.
m
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Well Sue,
You mentioned this wonderful lamp in another thread before the weekend ....... and I wondered whether to ask you to go along and buy it on my behalf, but got involved in life, the world and everything (well, the Glass Asssociation AGM), and you went and bought it for yourself :o ;) Good for you I say - a pinnacle piece for your collection I'm thinking. It is better than I expected and I'm quite, quite jealous. A lovely wee beastie :) :) Well done you!
Nigel
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The skull came out fairly spooky - it looks as if some flesh is still stuck to it, yuk!
The 'skull' looks like one of those Voodoo shrunken heads to me! :o
I've realised I'm merely the custodian of this major work of art, I have a responsibility to take great care of it.
Beautifully said, and I can't think of a better (or more deserving) custodian! :kissy:
Hard luck, Nigel! He who hesitates is lost! >:D (Don't worry, we're all as :mrgreen: of this one ;) )
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I'm still shaking with the enormity of it all!
It was sitting in a cabinet, badly displayed and badly lit, it's been sitting there for about 3 years. :thud: It has called to me and called to me and I've resisted and resisted - (the price tag was a little more than a month's income). The thought that in that time somebody else could easily have come along and snapped it up gives rise to the same sort of feeling as I'd get if I'd just narrowly escaped death.
Between that, and the emotions and awe the piece evokes, I'm a wreck. :thud:
I promise, when I'm able, I will do my best to get images of all it can do to show you all.
It's just not right not to share it with the world.