The Art of Studio Glass

Ancient glass pitcher, circa 2nd - 4th century CE.
Syro-Palestinian coast, possibly Sidon.
Image courtesy of Honolulu Academy of Art.

The origin of glass is unknown.  All that is known is that it began to be used very, very early in the history of humankind, and that it was highly valued from the start. Today, art glass is a respected and eminently collectible medium.  What follows is a very short and concise look at the types of art glass and the work of some extraordinary and impressive glass artists.

Glass sculpture "The Sun" by Dale Chihuly at Kew Gardens in London.
The sculpture is 13 feet high and made from 1,000 pieces.
Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

There is a distinction to be made between "art glass" and "glass art".  The term "glass art" typically refers to large modern works of glass that are usually one-of-a-kind and not meant to be utilitarian.  The image above is a good example of "glass art".

"Jamaica", fused & painted glass and frit by Raphael Schnepf.
This piece utilizes multiple methods of working with glass.

"Art glass" on the other hand, is glass that goes beyond its usefulness as a glass object and becomes a piece of art as well.   Another term often used is "studio glass".  These glass objects are intended to make a sculptural or decorative statement.  There are many ways of working with glass, usually differentiated as hot, warm, or cold glass.

 "Swan" kilnformed bowl by Linda Steider.
Ms. Steider uses powdered glass for a painterly effect.

Glass craftsmen are very cautious about using the same type of glass within a project, as different glasses have different COEs (Coefficient of Expansion), and care must be taken to avoid mixing glass with different COEs or the results could be disastrous.

"Donnie's Cat" kilnformed glass bowl by Linda Steider.

Cold working refers to working with glass that is in a cold state, such as stained glass.  The term "stained glass" originally referred to glass pieces which had been painted on, then heated or fused in a kiln.  Today it can refer to an object made of pieces of colored glass that are held together by lead came (thin strips of channeled lead) or copper foil, also called "leaded glass".

"Daniel" from Augsburg Cathedral,
early12th c., one of the oldest examples
in situ; image courtesy of Wikipedia.

Warm glass is kiln-formed glass, such as fusing, slumping, or casting.  One piece may use two or more of these processes.  When the glass is heated it becomes softer and less rigid, which allows its shape to be manipulated.  This is a slow process of working with glass, as care must be made when both heating and cooling the glass.

"Azure" fused glass bowl by Raphael Schnepf.

Fusing is using heat to join glass.  Tack fusing is attaching small pieces to a larger one, or assembling a large piece of glass from smaller ones.  When adding small pieces to a larger one, the project can be heated just enough to alter the form of the small pieces, causing them to melt and bind onto the larger one.  In full fusing, the temperature is higher causing the small pieces to be absorbed into the larger one, and the surface becomes flat.

"Triple Red Success" by Linda Steider.
The gold circles were hand drawn with 22k gold.

Slumping involves heating glass until it is soft and begins to sag.  Mold slumping is placing a piece of flat glass above a mold, usually made of ceramic.  As the glass heats, it "slumps" and takes the shape of the mold.  Care must be taken that the mold is covered by kiln wash, a wet, thick solution painted on kiln furniture and molds that prevents glass from sticking to them.  Free-fall slumping uses a form with a ring in the center.  Flat piece(s) of glass that are placed over the form will slump into it, forming a bowl or vase.  This technique is used to make vessals with steeper sides.  The kiln shelf underneath, covered with kiln wash, gives the piece a flat bottom.  A piece can also be draped over a mold. Draping usually results in uneven edges, although the pieces can be grinded to be more even, if so desired.

"Spring Bowl" fused glass server by Raphael Schnepf

If a glass piece is grinded, either to shape it or remove something that inadvertently stuck to it, it can be fire polished, which is heating the piece just enough to smooth and round the edges.  When the glass is still hot and in the kiln it can also be combed.  Combing forms a pattern on the surface with a pointed metal rake.

"3 Dancers" fused and combed glass plate by Raphael Schnepf.

Casting is when glass is heated to the point of being liquid and thus shapes itself to a mold.  The mold can be ceramic or a one-time plaster mold.  The glass can be billets, or loosely stacked pieces of glass, frit, and/or ground or powdered glass. Pâte de Verre (glass paste) is a mixture of powdered frit and a glue binder.  The paste is applied to a mold in a thin layer, and when fired forms a thin object.

"Oleander" pate de verre bowl by EM Studio Glass.
Click here to see her explanation of how it's done.

Hot glass is a process of forming glass objects in a direct source of heat.  The glass is manipulated with tools to shape it while it is molten, like pincers and shears. Lampworking and glassblowing are the main two methods.

"Peace Bead Set" by Marcy Lamberson.

Lampworking, also called flameworking or torchworking, uses a torch fueled by gas to melt rods and tubes of glass.  Once molten, the glass is shaped with tools. This method is used to create figurines, trinkets, curios, and beads.  There are two types of glass used:  soda-lime or "soft" glass; and borosilicate glass, called "hard glass".  Soft glass melts at lower temperatures, but expands more when hot and contracts more when cool, so it is prone to cracking.  Hard glass is more forgiving, but comes in fewer colors and is more expensive.  

"Sasha, the Diva Fish" by Marcy Lamberson.

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"Bacon" by Marcy Lamberson.

"Wombat" by Marcy Lamberson.

Glassblowing is a technique that involves inflating molten glass into a bubble (called a parison) with the aid of a blowpipe or blow tube.  There are two major methods of glassblowing.  Free-blowing was first introduced in the 1st century BCE.  It is the process of blowing short puffs of air into a molten portion of glass that is gathered at one end of the blowpipe.  This forms an interior to the glob of molten glass which can then be inflated and worked into a shape.  A skilled glassblower rotates the pipe, swinging it and controlling the temperature while they are blowing into it.

The other technique is mold blowing, developed in the 1st century CE.  The glob of molten glass is placed on the end of the blowpipe where it is inflated into a carved mold.  Therefore the shape and texture of the piece is determined by the design of the interior of the mold, rather than the glassblower's skill.  Both techniques require working at very high temperatures, and some physical strength.

Pitcher by Alexandra Farnham

Vase by Alexandra Farnham

Black Glass vessels by Alexandra Farnham

Finally, there are glass artists who create by sandblasting.  This renders a sheet of glass translucent, transmitting light but allowing for privacy.  This involves the use of a special cabinet or room that allows one to blast a piece of glass with small, uniform particles in a carefully controlled atmosphere.  It can be used to make sculptural glass pieces or architectural features, like the doors below.

Sandblasted doors designed by EM Studio Glass.
The theme is Texas birds and trees, designed for a
private residence.  Click here to see process.

Detail of above door.

The objects shown may look doable, and I assure you they are.  After a LOT of practice.  Working with glass is very rewarding, but skills take time and effort.  As one glass artist I know said to a customer who asked how long it took to make the piece she was buying, "Two hours and seventeen years."

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My thanks to the artists whose work they graciously allowed me to use:

Ellen Abbott from EM Glass Studio, Alexandra Farnham, 

Marcy Lamberson, Raphael Schnepf, and Linda Steider.

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If you are interested in learning more about glass, I heartily recommend 

the Glass Craft and Bead Expo in Las Vegas.  This five-day, annual event 

offers classes in every aspect of glass art, even photographing and marketing it.  

There is a show during the last three days with exhibits from suppliers and artists.  

It is a great place to meet glass lovers from all over the world. 

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Racism and Sexism at its Most Outrageous!

La Belle Hottentot (The Hottentot Venus)
Early nineteenth century print courtesy of Wikipedia.

"Hottentot" was the name given to the Khoikhoi tribe in South Africa by the Europeans who went there.  It comes from the Dutch word for "stutter", which is what their language sounded like to Europeans.  This tribe was physically distinct in that the women had large buttocks which jutted out like an appendage triangle - the top perpendicular to the ground, curving toward the legs in an approximate forty-five degree angle.  Of more prurient interest were the elongated labia which could sometimes be seen while the women were standing nude.

Print of an exhibition from 1814.
Image courtesy of Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Saartjie Baartman (Sarah Bartman anglicised) was a Khoikhoi woman born in the eastern Cape of South Africa some time prior to 1790.  The exact date of her birth and her birth name is unknown.  She was a slave owned by Dutch farmers near Cape Town when the brother of her owner suggested she travel to England for exhibition.  She was promised that she would become wealthy.  She left for London in 1810.

Caricature of Baartman from the early 19th century.
Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

She was paraded around England as the "Hottentot Venus", shaking her booty and revealing her genitalia, led by her "keeper", and sitting, standing, or walking at his command.  Although many flocked to see her, it caused a scandal.  The Slave Trade Act had passed in Parliament in 1807, which abolished slave trade in the British Empire but not slavery.  Abolitionists petitioned for her release.  She was questioned before a court, and stated that she was doing this willingly, and for half the profits.  She claimed she was not answering under duress, but eyewitness reports from her exhibitions suggest otherwise.  The court ruled she had entered into a contract of her own free will, although it is doubtful that there ever was a contract.

Ms. Baartman was sold to a Frenchman who took her to France.  (Ironically, she was born at the time of the French revolution whose ideals were liberty and equality.)   She was exhibited by an animal trainer under even harsher conditions. She was painted in the nude, examined and painted scientifically.  Georges Cuvier, head keeper of the menagerie at the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (founded during the French Revolution) and Napoleon's surgeon general, was intrigued by her, one of the many French naturalists who visited her.  To them she was evidence of the superiority of the white race. 

The Hottentot Venus in the Salon of the Duchess of Berry

by Sebastien Coeure, 1830

Once the novelty of her exhibitions wore off, she became a prostitute and an alcoholic.  She died in 1815, at the approximate age of 26, of an undetermined inflammatory ailment, possibly pneumonia, but some reports suggest syphilis.  An autopsy was conducted and published, and a cast was made of her body.  Her brain and genitalia were removed, preserved, and presented for public viewing in the Musée de l'Homme in Paris along with her skeleton.  They were displayed until 1974 (her body casting until 1976), when they were put into storage.  

The return of her remains was advocated since the 1940s, but the demands became urgent after Stephen Jay Gould wrote about her in the 1980s.  In 1994, President Nelson Mandela formally requested that they be returned.  The French National Assembly, after years of legal debates, honored the request on March 5, 2002. Still viewing her as a "thing", they worried that releasing her remains would lead to returning plundered artefacts from all over the world.  She now rests on Vergaderingskop, a hill in the town of Hankey in the Gamtoos River Valley.

Keep in mind that at the time the study of "science" included correlating personality traits and mental dispositions with physical attributes.  Think phrenology or physiognomy (the study of bumps on the head, and the study of facial features, respectively), the pseudosciences that were popular at that time.  
(Physiognomy has its roots in 5th century BCE Greece, and was widely accepted and taught in universities in the middle ages.)  Racial theorists equated moral and mental status with anatomy, and crania were often measured as a sign of intelligence.  This does not excuse what was done to Ms. Baartman, but may help explain how it came about, and more importantly, why it was tolerated by supposedly civil and educated people.  The aristocracy had their own private showings. 

De humana physiognomia libri IIII
by Giambattista della Porta, 1586.
Image courtesy of National Library of Medicine

In Ms. Baartman's case, Cuvier and his contemporaries believed her genitalia was proof of the African woman's "primitive sexual appetite".  Her racial characteristics were displayed as proof of her supposed sexual proclivities, among other things, and besides her buttocks and genitalia, included her skin color (described as "yellowish", not black), nappy hair, and facial features.  

Image courtesy of this site.

The practice of parading and exhibiting people, particularly people of color or "otherness", is an old one.  The Romans loved it.  Columbus brought back Arawak natives to the court of Ferdinand and Isabella.  Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and Barnum and Bailey's circus had traveling shows that exhibited "savages", "natives", and "freaks".  World expositions also displayed "other" peoples, even having them perform dances, ceremonies, and sometimes even pretending to live their daily lives, albeit on the fairgrounds.  This was an attribute of western colonialism, attempting to promote the idea that non-white cultures needed western civilization thus western domination.  

Saartjie Baartman was not the only Khoikhoin woman treated this way, just the most famous one.  Apparently autopsy skills were not evolved enough to determine the way she died, since it seemed that enough time was spent, and much care taken in examining her body, to write reports about it and present them to colleagues.  I also could find nothing on Khoikhoin men, and if they had distinctive genitalia and large buttocks as well.

Marker at gravesite of Saartjie Baartman.
Image courtesy of this site.

We'd like to think that we are beyond this kind of treatment of another human being.  We'd like to think we are beyond racism and sexism.  But we have to ask ourselves if we truly are.  There are atrocities against human beings committed every day somewhere in the world, and to not acknowledge them is in a way being a party to them, or at the least condoning them.  A better world can only be made up of better people, and the struggle to do the right thing is a daily one, regardless of accepted social trends.

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The Language of Hope

The flag of Esperanto.

When I was a child I used to beg my mother to teach me her native Greek.  She had all kinds of excuses why she didn’t, but the main one was that, she assured me, by the time I was an adult everyone would be speaking Esperanto.  She didn’t know Esperanto, but she was enamored with it.  "Esperanto" means "hope".

Decades later, I have yet to meet anyone who knows Esperanto, but looking into it was surprising.  Not only is it the only constructed language with native speakers (learned from one’s parents), but it has a well-organized support group.

Created to foster peace and understanding in the world, Esperanto was created in the late 1870s and early 1880s by Dr. Ludovic Lazarus Zamenhof, an opthalmologist from Bialystok of Russian-Jewish descent.  After spending ten years developing it, he starting writing original prose and verse as well as tranlating literature into Esperanto.  Zamenhof originally named it La Intenacia Linvo - "the International Language".  The first grammar book was published in Warsaw in 1887.

Dr. Ludovic Lazarus Zamenhof (1859 - 1917)

The number of speakers grew rapidly, keeping in touch through periodicals and correspondence.  Then, in 1905, the first World Congress of Esperanto speakers was held in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France.  Since then there has been a World Congress every year except during WWI and WWII, held in a different country each year.  For a list of which country hosts the Congress for each year, and the number of attendees from past ones, click here.

But it wasn't accepted as a positive move towards global understanding at first.  It was held in suspicion by many totalitarian states, especially Stalin's Soviet Union, Imperial Japan, and Nazi Germany.  In fact, Hitler mentioned Esperanto in Mein Kampf as an example of a "Jewish National Conspiracy" creating their own language in an attempt at world domination.  Part of this was because Zamenhof was Jewish, and his family was singled out during the Holocaust.  Prior to Stalin, Esperanto had the Soviet government's support and they officially recognized the Soviet Esperanto Association.  Stalin denounced it as the language of spies, and the use of Esperanto was banned in the Soviet Union until 1956.

The Internation Language for Russians
Zamenhof's first textbook of Esperanto, 1887.

Although it hasn't been adopted by any country officially, it was recognized by UNESCO in 1954.  It is also the language of instruction of the Akademio Internacia de la Sciencoj San Marino or Accademia Internazionale delle Scienze San Marino (International Academy of Sciences San Marino) in that republic.  It is claimed that learning Esperanto facilitates the learning of languages in general.

In 1924, the American Radio Relay League adopted Esperanto as its official international auxiliary language in the hope that it would be used by ham radio enthusiasts internationally, but never seemed to take off.  There are several non-profit organizations who have adopted it.

Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species in Esperanto.

Esperanto is not related to any ethnic language, although the phonology, grammar, vocabulary, and semantics are based on Indo-European languages, particularly Slavic,  Romance, and Germanic languages.  These may be the influence of the early speakers who were mostly Russian, Polish, French, and German.  It is written with a modified version of the Latin alphabet, with six letters with diacritics.  It does not include the letters q, w, x, or y.  The 28-letter alphabet is:

a b c ĉ d e f g ĝ h ĥ i j ĵ k l m n o p r s ŝ t u ŭ v z

Zamenhof published a book of the core vocabulary in 1887, Lingvo internacia.  In this book 900 roots were listed, which could be expanded into thousands of words using prefixes, suffixes, and compounding.  The first Esperanto dictionary, the Universala Vortaro, was published in 1894 with even more roots.  Since then many words have been borrowed, mostly from Western European languages, especially scientific and technical terms.  There is a preference among speakers, however, to use existing roots or words to express new meanings.  There are not a lot of slang words or idioms, as this would go against Esperanto's role as an international language.

The poem below (in Esperanto and the English translation) is considered the Esperanto anthem.  Poem courtesy of the Project Gutenberg, which has quite a few ebooks.

La Espero En la mondon venis nova sento, tra la mondo iras forta voko; per flugiloj de facila vento nun de loko flugu ĝi al loko. Ne al glavo sang on soifanta ĝi la homan tiras familion:  al la mond' eterne militanta ĝi promesas sanktan harmonion. Sub la sankta signo de l' espero kolektiĝas pacaj batalantoj, kaj rapide kreskas la afero per laboro de la esperantoj. Forte staras muroj de miljaroj inter la popoloj dividitaj; sed dissaltos la obstinaj baroj, per la sankta amo disbatitaj. Sur neŭtrala lingva fundamento, komprenante unu la alian, la popoloj faros en konsento unu grandan rondon familian. Nia diligenta kolegaro en laboro paca ne laciĝos, ĝis la bela sonĝo de l' homaro por eterna ben' efektiviĝos.

The Hope Into the world came a new feeling, through the world goes a powerful call; by means of wings of a gentle wind now let it fly from place to place. Not to the sword thirsting for blood does it draw the human family:   to the world eternally fighting it promises sacred harmony. Under the sacred sign of the hope the peaceful fighters gather, and this affair quickly grows by the labours of those who hope. The walls of millennia stand firm between the divided peoples; but the stubborn barriers will jump apart, knocked apart by the sacred love. On a neutral language basis, understanding one another, the peoples will make in agreement one great family circle. Our diligent set of colleagues in peaceful labor will never tire, until the beautiful dream of humanity for eternal blessing is realized.

Universa la Kongreso de Esperanto, Roterdamo, 2008

Esperanto was created to foster peace through universal understanding and solidarity.  Perhaps this is the ideal time to learn Esperanto.  We need some "hope" in the world today.

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Images courtesy of Wikipedia.

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Daffadown Dilly

St. Mary-le-Bow Church in London, rebuilt 1671-1680,
after the Great Fire of London in 1666, to the designs
of Christopher Wren.  Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

Anyone born within hearing distance of the bells of St. Mary-le-Bow in London is considered Cockney.  The term refers to working-class Londoners and the form of English spoken by this group.  This dialect is responsible for Cockney rhyming slang, a method of making a short phrase replace a word (without using the word), rendering a sentence incomprehensible to anyone not familiar with the phrase.

It is thought that this subterfuge was invented by petty thieves, traders, and entertainers to communicate with each other in terms that the police or any eavesdroppers wouldn't understand, but that has pretty much been discredited  As more people used it, the policemen who grew up as boys in the area would've learned the phrases.  It is unknown how widespread the usage was, but it is no longer the language of the criminal and lowly element.

Image courtesy of Travel Guide London.

"Daffadown dilly" means "silly", which has been shortened to "daffy" which is commonly used today.  "Adam and Eve" means "believe", as in "Can you Adam and Eve it?"  Some phrases are abbreviated.  "Apples and pears" means "stairs", but typically only "apples" is used in speaking, as in "Just go up the apples and you'll find it."

Some phrases were intended as a joke:  "trouble and strife" for wife, for example. Some words have made it into today's commonly spoken English without a thought to their derivation:  "bread" from "bread and honey" to mean "money".  I, myself, have always used "brass tacks", thinking it came from the base of an upholstered piece.  Instead, I find, it means "facts".  The idea has spread to other English-speaking lands.  In Ireland, "flowers and frolics" means bollocks (nonsense, pronounced "bollicks" in Ireland).  "Corned beef" (pronounced "deif in Scotland) means "deaf".  In the U.S. we say "eighty-six" to mean "nothing" (nix).

Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

One problem in researching the history of this dialect, is that it was primarily spoken and so there are not a lot of written instances of its use.  Most of us think of Eliza Doolittle of My Fair Lady, or Bert, the chimney sweep in Mary Poppins that Dick Van Dyke played when we think of a Cockney.  A true part of those performances is the unaspirated "h" sound ("aitch"), which is indicative of the Cockney dialect.

Cockney is a living language and phrases are added all the time.  Many of the new terms have to do with the latest celebrities, i.e. "Britney Spears" for "stairs".  Some follow using words or terms, such as "ace of spades" for "Aids".  "Dog and bone" is the phrase for "phone".

English speakers, like speakers of all languages, enjoy rhyming.  Cockney rhyming slang has great appeal, especially with its murky beginnings.  It makes us want to use our loafs and take another butcher's at the English language.

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Note:  "loaf" = "load of bread" = "head"

                     "butcher's" = "butcher's hook" = "look"

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Duck Poup

Jacques de Vaucanson (1709 - 1782)
1768 by Joseph Boze
Académie des sciences – Institut de France

"Sans...le canard de Vaucanson vous n'auriez 

rien qui fit ressouvenir de la gloire de la France."

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(Without...the duck of Vaucanson, you have nothing 

to remind you of the glory of France.")

Voltaire

It could quack, flap its wings, drink water, eat grain, and poop odiferous pellets.  It was life-size and made of thousands of parts, it had a rubber hose for intestines (the very first rubber hose made), and its outside was gold-plated copper.  The year was 1739, and this mechanical duck, the Canard Digérateur, was an automaton made by Jacques de Vaucanson in France.

Photo of replica by Futoshi Sakauchi

Vaucanson exhibited a mechanical mind when just a boy, and aspired to become a clockmaker.  He was given a workshop and a grant from a nobleman to build machines in Lyon when he was only 18.  He decided to make androids that could serve dinner.  But a government official thought Vaucanson’s work was profane, and ordered his workshop destroyed.

Photo of replica by Futoshi Sakauchi

In 1738, Vaucanson constructed a life-size shepherd that could play twelve songs on the flute.  Since its fingers were not very nimble, he made them of skin.  Its lips could open and close, and move foreward and back.  It had a moving metal tongue that controlled the air flow and paused.  This automaton breathed, thanks to three separate pipes in its chest, attached to nine bellows. 

Postulated interior of the Duck of Vaucanson by an American observer.
 Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

The Flute Player was exhibited by Vaucanson in shows of ten to fifteen people.  The cost of admission was three livres, which was a week’s wage for manual labor.  The show was very successful.  The next year he introduced two other automata – a figure that played the pipe and drum, and the Duck.  The musician played the pipe faster than a human could.  But the Duck was his masterpiece.  It ate grain from his hand, and one could see gulping action in its throat.

Brochure for the Flute Player
(Public Domain)

Vaucanson grew bored with his creations, sold them in 1743, and went on to invent other things, significantly the first automated loom, which did not make him popular with weavers.  The three automata passed from one owner to the next, and are thought to have been destroyed.  Johann Goethe claimed to have seen the Duck (featherless and broken) and the Flute Player in 1805, but that was the last time the Flute Player was heard of. 

All three of Vaucanson's Automata.
Image courtesy of this site.

The Duck was mentioned about twenty years later when a clockmaker took it to an exposition in Paris in 1844.  The renowned magician Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin, whose name Harry Houdini adopted, examined it and found that the digestion had been the result of two compartments in the Duck – one collected the grains, and the other expelled pellets of dyed green breadcrumbs.  Nothing was heard of the Duck until a letter in a newspaper claimed it was in a museum in Krakow, but the museum had burned down.

Vaucanson died in Paris in 1782, leaving a collection of his work to Louis XVI.  This collection became the foundation of the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers.  His work on an automated loom was ignored in his lifetime, but was perfected later by Joseph Marie Jacquard, inventor of the Jacquard loom.

Photo courtesy of Peter Schmidt, Department
of English, Swarthmore

There is a replica of the Duck in a private museum open to the public in Grenoble. Le Musée des Automates des Grenoble has a collection of automata, music boxes, and other similar items.  The replica of the Duck that is here was made by a clockmaker. 

Photo courtesy of Peter Schmidt, Department of English, Swarthmore

Mechanical toys were a fad in Europe when Vaucanson introduced his automata.  His creations went way beyond toys, and were quite revolutionary in their sophistication.  Because they mimicked the means of a natural body, with mechanisms that corresponded to muscles and body parts, these were truly “enlightened” designs.

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