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If you have a difficult time adapting to change---LOOK OUT! There will be so many changes in the upcoming months, it will make your head spin! Oceanside made several announcements in July, 2018. We have been passing this news directly on to you through our eblast which go out a few times during the week. If you are not signed up for these and would like to be, click here: https://www.stainedglassexpress.com/newsletters.html. One announcement made was what would be retired July 1, 2018. For that list, click here. https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/3066318/art%20glass/96%20Transition/July%201st%202018%20Retired%20Products.pdf?t=1533154518844. To help you understand this list a bit and not to get too upset. A-100G does not mean clear granite is going away. It means clear granite in large sizes is going away. That is what the" A" in the front means. Architectural. The "I" in front of the next list means Iridized! Yep—that is a long list of iridized. Gone! Spectrum was outsourcing coated glass and Oceanside is having logistical problems doing that because it means crossing borders and dealing with NAFTA. Not easy. So they are hoping that in 2019 they will buy the equipment and start production again. The spoa number are the very beautiful opal arts. These: Nautica, Godiva, Sour Apple The next batch of numbers are Spirit glass numbers. Again just beautiful Art Glass. Rio, Valhalla, Sedona, Seattle. (and they even had cool names!!)

For a few years now, Stained Glass Express has been offering 33 coe glass. We are still learning and still adding product. One of the growing stock is our 33 coe tubes and rods. We stock Simax tubes and rods made by Schott. This is a high- quality borosilicate glass. The main ingredients are silica and boron. Boro has a high heat resistance and a low thermal expansion. (thus the low coe number). Simax works best in high heat and is commonly used in lab equipment, industrial equipment and cookware. However, in our art world it is a favorite because it creates smoot, transparent and strong beautiful pieces. For Simax to work at it’s full potential it must be annealed properly. Annealing is the process of eliminating internal thermal stress. This stress comes from one area of the glass getting hotter than a neighboring area and will later develop cracks. Usually it is annealed at 1050 F for about one hour and then cooled slowly. If you cool too quickly it will crack. Of course, this can vary depending on the thickness of the glass and other variables. You can use Simax glass with other 33 coe glass like Glass Alchemy, Golden Gate, imported, Momkas, Northstar, Tautman and others. We have not put simax on our website but if you talk to us and allow us to cut it to fit a box (or are willing to pay for oversized we will ship it. Our colored rods are on the site. https://www.stainedglassexpress.com/flameworking_glassblowing/33-coe/ In the art world the top item made is tobacco pipes, but also ornaments, pendants and other wonderful works of art! Sign up for one of our torch room classes and learn this art! https://www.stainedglassexpress.com/skins/common/images/TorchRoomClassesSchedule.pdf

INFO FROM THE MORSE MUSEUM

This lamp is not only incredibly beautiful and an amazing amount of work, it was turning point for the Tiffany Studios. In 1902, there was an event in Turin, Italy called the Prima Esposizione, Internazionale d’Arte Decorative Moderna. This event put an emphasis on the aesthetic renewal of everyday objects. Tiffany Studios received a grand prize at this event. One of the designs for the award was for the Wisteria Library Lamp. Electricity was now available. Before electricity, the lamp bases had to serve as containers for oil and limited the design. This transformed a previously utilitarian device in an electrified sculpture. Take a close look at the top of the lamp. There is an intricate bronze vine working its way down the design of the lamp. Just beautiful. This shade was designed by Clara Driscoll, who was the supervisor in the Women’s Glass Cutting Department. Follow this link to learn more about Clara Driscoll. http://morsemuseum.org/louis-comfort-tiffany/tiffany-studios-designers. Wisteria has more than 2,000 pieces which, of course, were hand cut. The wisteria was a popular spring blooming vine in the 19^th-century American gardens and loved by Louis Comfort Tiffany. He planted them in abundance at his Long Island estate called Laurelton Hall.

Some Info from The Frog Blog Dichroic glass is so beautiful and there are so many uses, it is just delightful. However, there are a few problems that knowledge can help deal with. One is that it is impossible to tell 96 from 90 COE if you get them mixed up. The answer to this one is—DON’T mix them up. Keep them labeled. If you keep scrap, keep it in a well-marked box. It is often important to know which side the dichroic coated side is to get the look you are going for. If it has a dark base, no problem—you can see it. However, on a transparent base, it can look the same on both sides! Reasons you may want to know this? Cutting. Always cut on the non-coated side of the glass. It will help prevent chipping, especially on textured glass. It also saves your cutter. Coated Side Down. When using the coated side down or capped with clear glass, the dichroic glass will have a smooth glossy surface and sparkle like glitter. It will also change colors between the transmitted color and a completely different reflective color, depending of the angle of view. Coated Side Up. If you use the dichroic glass with the coated side up or uncapped, the dichroic surface will have a highly metallic sheen. The piece may additional be rough and textured depending on the type of dichroic glass you are using. This is what to do. Place the glass over a dark background. Look at the glass at an angle so that you are seeing the reflection of the dichroic. Touch the surface with a paperclip (don’t scratch it). The paperclip will reflect. To know your answer. Does the reflection meet the paper clip, or there a gap between the clip and its reflection?

In one of the articles I read about Oceanside Glass (the new owners of Specturm and Uroborus Glass) they mentioned that one of their first big breaks was getting to replicate the vintage tile for the Roman Pool at Hearst Castle. This interested me on several levels. One is that last year I saw the Roman Baths in Bath England. A fascinating place. Next was that in my mid 20s Patty Hearst was kidnapped. I was riveted to the story. Read the book and was totally on Patty’s side. Then the glass! How thrilling. The article compared this big break to Eric Lovel and Uroboros getting to recreate Tiffany glass for restoration. It also made me think of our early years in the glass business when we got the contract to make air control panels for a state funded program. A lot of good steady work. Certainly not as sexy as doing Tiffany or Hearst work but we were over the moon. I asked my husband how he was going to make this product that was specific in its requirements. “No idea. I never saw anything like it, I don’t think it exists, but it is a great idea”. So, he quizzed every sales person he could and found metal and a gasket that would work. The metal came from a place called Mason (still in business) and the metal number was E208. We named the air control panel an OPE208. The OP was from Oakes & Parkhurst Glass, the name of our business (also still in business). Many competitors tried to get in on that action but could never figure out where we were buying the ope208. Little did they know we were manufacturing them ourselves. They were inside panels, the gasket made them air tight. We could make them with acrylic when they were for older people who might not be able to lift them with glass. They were held on with clips that were hidden behind curtains. Easy on and easy off! We made thousands. Days, nights, weekends. One Thanksgiving afternoon our family helped so we would not miss a deadline since our employees (rightly so) wanted Thanksgiving off! But I digress! This is a picture of the Roman Pool at Hearst Castle. The tile patterns were inspired by mosaics found in the 5^th Century Mausoleum of Galla Placidia in Ravenna, Italy. Some also represent the marine monster themes that are in the ancient Roman baths. The tiles are 1” square and go ceiling to floor. These glass tiles, called smalti, are either mostly colored blue or orange or are clear with fused gold inside.

I just love this piece from the Glass Craft and Bead Expo. The women represent Earth, Wind, Fire and Water. I love the symbolism, I love that Bonnie used women (powerful forces of nature), I love the framing, and how “earth” is escaping the frame. It is truly a great piece. In my opinion a FIRST PLACE!

In celebration of Utah Valley University’s 75^th anniversary in November of 2016, they presented a public art project done in stained glass called Roots of Knowledge. It is a very large permanent display. Ten feet high and 200 feet in length. The mural starts with the dawn of humanity and goes to the present time. It includes ore than 60,000 pieces of glass and made up of 80 panels. More than 40 professional artists, 26 UVU scholars and hundreds of UVU students work on the project under the guidance of Utah artist Tom Holdman and Utah Valley University President Matthew Holland. The lead artist was Cameron Oskcarson. Tom Holdman, a master stained glass artist was the brains behind the project. Want to see more? https://www.uvu.edu/rootsofknowledge/

Corella Classic is made by Wissmach Glass. Wissmach glass is the second oldest glass manufacturer that is still in operation. Corella Classic is one of their many lines of cathedral glass. As always, glass is not the easiest to photograph so these don’t particularly show the special characteristics of Corella Classic. Wissmach’s description is “In contrast to the more traditional and defined patterns, with Corella Classic the color flows across the non-directional pattern for that special illumination—A shimmering reflection of light from watery surface of glass. On our website, Corella Classic is mixed in with the other cathedrals of Wissmach. http://www.stainedglassexpress.com/Stained-Art-Glass/Wissmach-Glass-Art-Glass/Wissmach-Glass-Cathedral In the store they are in their own section of the stock glass.

TIFFANY LAMP 1901. Wisteria

This incredible lamp is on display at the Morse Museum in Winter Park, Florida. This is one of the lamps designed by Clara Driscoll. This lamp was exhibited at the 1902 decorative arts exposition in Turin, Italy. Both this lamp and the Pond Lily lamp won a grand prize for transforming previously utilitarian devices into electrified sculptures from nature. Most of Tiffany designs were oil lamps that required the base to serve as the oil source. Electricity gave more opportunity for design. Clara Driscoll led the Women’s Glass Cutting Department that was established in 1892. It was very progressive for an establishment to employ women. This book, which has become a national bestseller, is a delightful story about the women workers at the Tiffany studio. It is well worth the read.

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

MICA ILLUSION TRANSFERS

Illusions transfers are 3x3 transfers than come in Silver, Champagne and Gold. They are new to the market and we will be introducing them at Stained Glass Express in April. (2018) Will work on any coe. Not for food bearing surfaces. The white parts of the stencils is where your glass will show. The color part is actual mica backed with enamel, so it adheres to the glass. Fires at lowest possible. If you fire too high the mica will adhere too much to the glass in the negative areas because the glass is softening. You don’t have to use dichroic glass for these because the mica is so awesome. You could do it on anything. Clear, dichroic or anything! Experiment. These samples are on black glass. They are hi fire decals. 1250F to 1300F. Glass MUST BE pre fused. Then add the mica transfer. Remove the wax carrier Soak the transfer in distilled water take off the backing and apply to your fired cabochon. Smooth out air bubbles with paper towel. Let dry. 3 hours might be enough, but you probably should do over night

DICHROIC GLASS

MOST INFO FROM HOWARD SANDBERG OF COATINGS BY SANDBERG

Dichroic glass is one of the most beautiful things SGE carries and it has been one of the most challenging. It was kind of nice to see on CBS page “the history of dichroic glass” that Howard says, “When you look at the history of an artist using Dichroic coated glass, it appears that the artist has been under the major handicap of not having any information on what he or she was working with. These artists were exposed to a piece of glass that had interesting color effects but came from a very complex and scientific industry not easily understood. These ‘high-tech’ coatings were capable of reflecting a narrow band of light (or one color) and at the same time, transmitting the remaining part of light.” So at least it was not just us facing challenges. I could go on about how the development of this metal film was done by our military and aerospace industries. The text would make your head hurt! It was 30 years (mid 70s) ago when CBS started production for art applications. When SGE first brought in some dichroic glass it was a big deal. We made a special display rack for it. We were displaying 1 piece that was about 2x4 inches of each one. We outgrew that fast! Then we would get questions about what it was going to do. We had some idea but not much. To complicate things, we didn’t even always know what we were getting. A customer would buy a piece that was rainbow or mixed and one part of the glass would behave one way and another part another way. Then our suppliers started to drill down and offer a standard stock and good descriptions. We changed our sku system and our descriptions to help our customers know what they were buying and to help us have them organized in a way that the customer could find what they wanted, and we would have a way to see gaps in our inventory and keep our stock consistent. About five years into stocking this glass we bought a shrink wrap machine. We bring in the glass, cut it, shrink wrap it and label it. No more ruined pieces from scratches and no more fighting to get the glue from the label off the glass. We stock CBS (Coatings by Sandberg), Profusion, and Austin Thin Films. We stock both 90 and 96. Just recently we have started to look into stocking some 104 and 33 coe for out bead workers and glass blowers.