IN THE BEGINNING—GLASS FACTS

1840s—window glass took a step forward from the cylinder method to experiment with cast and rolled glass. This allowed larger sheets. 1800-1900s—John LaFarge and Louis C. Tiffany and glass chemist, Arthur Nash, were having success with color in glass. 1880s-1900—The Opalescent Age of Tiffany and LaFarge saw companies come and go. Kokomo Opalescent Glass Company founded in 1888 and The Paul Wissmach Glass Company Inc. founded in 1904 were the only two that survived and are still in operation today. Looking to repair an old piece of glass and need a match. These two companies are where to start for your glass matching. 1920s saw the Great Depression come to be and the Opalescent Age begin to die. This time also saw more of a need for better window glass and saw the development of the “continuous ribbon” production. Continuous ribbon takes four separate processes and makes them a continuous flow.

1. Mixing the raw materials.
2. Melting
3. Sheet forming
4. Annealing

This creates increased production and more uniformity. The continuous ribbon allowed for “float glass”. The float method replaced the plate method and is the process used to crate the clear class you see in window glass today. It is also the process that Spectrum Glass used. 1950s. The Studio Art movement was gaining. The legendary Harvey K. Littleton Studio of Toledo had students like Dale Chihuly, Marvin Lipofsky, Fritz Dreisbach, Boyce Lundstrum, Dan Schwoerer, and more. These artist did so much to share the American studio glass movement.

This type of work demanded more glass of consistent quality. 1851

Glass Pioneer, Dale Chihuly

Fritz Dreisbach, goblet