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Stained Glass Express has always taken pride in never being out of stock on any glass. We would have at least one sheet cut up and out on the retail floor, ready for you to carry out, and another full sheet in the warehouse. As soon as the full sheet in the warehouse went to the retail floor, we ordered another one. Unfortunately, it’s no longer that simple. Since Spectrum (announced May 2016) and Uroboros (announced October 2016) closed, not only has some glass been scarce or not available at all, the dynamics of buying glass is different. Both companies’ assets were sold to Oceanside Glass and Tile. Oceanside certainly has had its challenges. It moved the assets, constructed buildings and trained workers. As the distributors’ warehouses emptied their stock of Spectrum and Uroboros, we felt the need to find glass. It was a year from the time Spectrum announced its closing that we knew that Oceanside would begin production. In the meantime, this is what we did:

1. We bought one year’s supply of cabinet glass in advance. We sell a lot of cabinet glass, most of it to one customer. We bought one year’s supply in advance, hoping the dust would settle by then and we would not be cutting and putting together hundreds of new sample sets for this customer. We called it right on that one. We made it through the year, and we are still using the same sample sets. Below is our top selling cabinet glass, Clear Seedy.

2. We brought in two new lines of fusible glass. First, we brought in Wissmach’s 96 line. That meant rearranging some display area to make room for a new line of glass. We still had a lot of the old System 96, but as we ran out of some colors, we needed to be ready. Then we brought in Youghiogheny 96, later to become the Northeast distributor for Youghiogheny and increasing that line.

Wissmach 96 COE Glass Youghiogheny 96 COE Glass

3. We increased our offering of Bullseye compatible glass. We like to think of this as 90 COE, but Bullseye just calls it “Bullseye compatible.” We have had more customers switch over to Bullseye to avoid the turmoil. There is no question the glass is beautiful.

Then Oceanside announced that most of the line that previously was nonfusible would become fusible. Wow! That involved us changing around the entire showroom. Our big wall of nonfusible cubbies would become fusible because that change meant most of our glass would be fusible. What a delight this change has been for fusers, who now have many more options. All these changes for Spectrum/Oceanside meant a rocky supply chain. Clear glass was manufactured and then it switched to color. Before it went back to clears, they became scarce. It also meant a lot of changing around the showroom and trying to keep items so you could find what you wanted (if we were lucky enough to have it). We arranged our glass so that the nonfusible glass was kept separate from the fusible. For a time, we might have had two pieces of glass that looked identical, but one was fusible and one was not. At this point, there are colors that are manufactured twice a year. We can only hope that our distributors call it correctly and have enough to get us to the next run. They have not even manufactured all the colors yet! Iridized glass has all but disappeared. Kokomo’s iridizing machine was shut down during the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s investigations in 2016. It got plugged up when it was turned off and they have not gotten it running again. Oceanside does not have the ability to iridize yet. Once in a while, we get some Wissmach, but it is scarce. We brought in two new lines, which was a big investment. Then Oceanside started being manufactured, and we wanted to grab glass from that line as it became available. We had to make big decisions about how much to buy. We all have limited resources and even though we might want to spent every available dollar on glass (we know you understand THAT) we also have to meet payroll, pay utilities, put paper in the copy machine and all those other things you just hate to think about. Even planning a sale is different. I now start gathering up enough glass to have it on sale three months ahead. I might have to buy from three different distributors and I generally try not to buy glass more than twice a month. That means there is extra glass sitting here, waiting for a sale that is two to three months out — or more. That means less money for routine orders. However, we now know we’d better buy glass when it becomes available. We are being diligent about continuing to do so, and we are trying to keep the website updated with these changes. On those days when customers don’t seem to realize there have been shutdowns, we feel we should pat ourselves on the back — because that means we have kept enough glass in stock so that vast gaps are not as obvious to you, the customer. There are other days when we don’t know how we are going to, for instance, run a sunflower class because we don’t have enough yellow glass. But we sigh, roll up our sleeves and find a way to make it happen. Despite all the current difficulties, we are lucky to be in an industry that surrounds us with so much beauty, fun and healing power.

1. I really think we cannot talk about this enough. It is amazing how many people do not know that Spectrum and Uroboros have closed.
2. Oceanside Glass and Tile bought the assets of both companies. At first, everything was going to stay the same — but as unforeseen problems had to be resolved, things did change.
3. The iridized glass that Spectrum used to make has disappeared. Oceanside plans to bring it back but has not set a date. The company must set up an iridizing plant in Mexico so it can manufacture the glass. But there are too many regulations involved to send glass across the border to have it iridized and then ship it back so it can be combined with other items in the buyer’s order.
4. What we once knew as Spectrum will know be "Oceanside Continuous Ribbon." Spectrum did name its glass "Continuous Ribbon," but the brand Spectrum will be gone. What once was Uroboros is now "Oceanside Hand Rolled." Some of the glass that we knew as hand rolled will now be continuous ribbon. “Hand rolled” means one sheet at a time goes on the table. Continuous ribbon means a longer run of glass is made at time. It tends to be smoother.
5. Almost all Spectrum and Uroboros glass will now be COE 96. That means fusers will have a vast variety of glass to choose from. There will still be some that has to stay art glass because of the difficulties of trying to fuse it.
6. The SKU numbers will not start with “SP” and “UR.” They will instead start with “OGT.”
7. The supply chain is not as regular as it was. Oceanside has announced that some colors will be manufactured twice a year and some others, only once a year.

This is not a complete list.. It does not include the rod manufacturers and overseas. These are our major supplies at this point in time. Since May of 2016 it has been a roller coaster ride in the art glass industry. It really does seem that the dust has settled, and this is what we have now. Kokomo Opalescent Glass. There are in Kokomo, Indiana have been operating since 1888. They are the oldest. They use some of the same recipes that are over 128 years old. They are a great source for doing reproduction work. This is a picture of their 12 pot circular furnace. It is a down draft. The Paul Wissmach Glass Co. Located in Paden City, West Virginia. They have been operating since 1904, making them the second oldest and therefore also a great resource when trying to match old glass. They use 12 furnaces. They do art glass, temperable glass, fusible glass. Youghiogheny Opalescent Glass Company, Inc. Located in Connellsville, Pennsylvania. They have been operating since 1977. Truly an art glass manufacturer but has also a wonderful line of fusing glass. Amazing color artistry. They have recently added a textured streakies line and Dichroic glass line. Bullseye Glass Co. Located in Portland Oregon since 1974. They focus on fusible glass, collaborating with artist and teaching. They produce extremely rich colors. Oceanside Glass & Tile. Started in 1992. They are located in Baja, California, but production is in Tijuana, Mexico. Their focus was glass tiles and then added the Spectrum Glass and Uroboros Glass lines in 2016 when both Spectrum and Uroboros announced they were closing. Oceanside had been buying glass from Spectrum for the tiles. They are not at 100% production yet, but they are manufacturing lots of fusible glass and frits. They will add the rest of the accessory glass this year. Pilkington. Various locations and known more for commercial applications. However, they produce many clear textures. Imports. We are seeing a lot of clear textures from other countries.

I opened an email this a.m. to see. “6.5 million dollars to prove your innocence. Bullseye said it all along and finally it is over. After glass price increases from all glass makers to fund Baghouse filter, lawyers, testing, more testing and now the plaintiff’s lawyer. . . It looks like it is finally over, we all hope. “ So I’m thinking—this guy is aware of something I am not but lo and behold just a bit further down in my inbox was an email from Bullseye. This pretty much says it all. January 23, 2019 Dear Friends, Today a Multnomah County Judge preliminarily approved a settlement in the class action lawsuit against Bullseye Glass Co. Follow this link to view the full news release: http://www.bullseyeglass.com/news/plaintiffs-and-bullseye-glass-co-settle-class-action-lawsuit.html We have mixed feelings about settling. However, once the insurance carriers provided the settlement funds, we worked hard to include meaningful settlement terms that would give our neighbors the peace of mind that Bullseye did not harm their property. We also advocated for additional air monitoring to include diesel particulate as that is a major air quality issue that affects our neighborhood. We are pleased that this aspect of the settlement may eventually contribute to improving air quality in Portland. Everyone at Bullseye sincerely appreciates your steadfast support and confidence over the past 3 years. We look forward to producing handcrafted art glass made in Portland, Oregon USA for years to come. The Team at Bullseye

We are now seeing the spectrum numbers disappear from the offerings. They are being replaced with Oceanside numbers. The bulk of the Oceanside numbers will be fusible. There will be an amazing offering of fusible glass!

Here at Stained Glass Express, we are bringing in the Oceanside numbers as fast as they are available! It has certainly been a challenge. It involved moving all our glass around so there would be enough room for the fusible glass. We have continued to buy Spectrum numbers if they are available. The price is better and there is not always an Oceanside number to replace it currently. We are trying to keep as complete a stock as possible.

If you are wondering why Oceanside has moved to almost all fusible glass, here is their explanation:

• As a steward of the environment, this switch to almost all fusible glass drastically reduces our waste, and your waste too.
• The majority of artists “scrap glass” can now be repurposed in Fusing Projects, and our production glass scraps can be re-melted, making the glass more valuable to you and to us.
• At a high-level, this switch also offers us much needed simplification and efficiency in our overall production.

There are 2 main distinctions of the glass production - Hand-rolled (as previously provided by Uroboros) and Continuous Ribbon (as previously provided by Spectrum).

Some of the glass we have managed to get as fusible:

These are medium amber water glass, Blue Yonder, Sky Blue, Dk Blue w/White and Cherry Red Cathedral.

Great variety for fusers and, of course, these can be used for stained glass and mosaics!

There has been talk that the glass manufactured by Oceanside has more bubbles in it than when it was manufactured at Spectrum. In April, I was at the Glass and Bead Show in Vegas and the Retailer Association I belong to, met the representatives of Oceanside during the event. I sort of remembered that they said something about no buying the big furnace that was at Spectrum, so their continuous ribbon was different. I was wondering if that was causing the bubbles. I went back to my retailer group and asked what they remembered about the conversation. These are some of the answers I got. “It wouldn't be caused by annealing, just like fusing bubbles are trapped at higher temps. The annealing tunnels are just slowly lowering the temp, removing stress, and making the glass user friendly. Their glass used to be relatively bubble free. At some point, maybe in the late 90's or early 2000's because of the cost of natural gas, they converted part of the process (I may have these backwards, or wrong) to an oxygen/gas mixture. It caused one of the first significant brand wide price increases I remember. Base retail went from 4.25 to 5.95. I bet someone else remembers those details better. There was also a large amount of glass going to china, being made into lamps. It was said, that the glass was too perfect making people think they were purchasing a plastic lamp. Who knows if that was part of a decision, or in any way historically true.” I just re-watched the first 10 minutes of Vince’s presentation. He talks about them not buying the continuous furnace, that they are using a day tank. I think they are saying the day tank is now the continuous ribbon and that is different than hand rolled. “Tom Giles (rip) once told me KOG could eliminate almost all bubbles (& therefore surface pits) if he could hold the batch longer in the furnace (usually just a day longer). But he was not allowed to because of the expense of gas”. I guess we still don’t know why, but we do know there are more pits in the glass. In fusing this will not matter but it will in stained glass.

Manufacturing the World’s Finest Art Glass since 1976

We are pleased to announce that we are now the Northeast Distributors of Youghiogheny Glass. In the sales world there are generally end users, retailers, distributors and manufacturers. These lines have become more and more blurry as manufacturers sell to end users and distributors open retail stores. In April Youghiogheny asked if we would be willing to take this on. We will have more glass, more variety and better pricing. Our first large shipment will arrive in late September. Our sale for October will be Youghiogheny glass. Youghiogheny Glass is a small manufacturing company that specializes in the production of stained glass sheets and glass products for the art and stained glass industry. Its products are distributed world wide for use in the making of stained glass lamps, panels, windows and other arts and crafts. Youghiogheny Glass is world renowned in the artist community for it uncompromising quality and color artistry, designed to recreate the magnificence of nature’s palette. Youghiogheny manufacturers Stipple, High Strike, Tiffany Reproduction, Oceana and Y96. Stipple Glass has a waxy, ice-like effect that sets it apart. Due to the translucent quality of the glass, there is a 3D effect when colors are streaked together. This type of glass was first made by Tiffany Studios. High Strike is a mottled art glass. It is mostly one or two-color mixes and some are rippled or iridized. Tiffany Reproduction (rg). This a series of authentic Tiffany Reproduction Opalescent Glass. These three and four-color mixes use a specifically formulated opal base glass. This base creates a true white cast, surface hazing, and the waxy quality that is generally associated with glass made by Tiffany. Oceana. Oceana mottles are soft with a delicate wispy background. Each sheet contains varying degrees of density, which create a stringy dimensional quality that is uniquely Oceana. Y96. This is a line of 96 COE compatible glass. It has a robust palette of opal and cathedral colors. 1^st picture is stipple, 2^nd is Oceana, 3^rd is High Strike, 4^th is reproduction and 5^th is fusible. To see more: https://www.stainedglassexpress.com/Stained-Art-Glass/Youghiogheny-Glass/ https://www.stainedglassexpress.com/Fusible-Glass/96-COE/Youghiogheny-Y-96-Glass/