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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.

I guess it is obvious that our logo includes the Fibonacci spiral. Fibonacci was a person, an Italia mathematician in the late 11^th and 12^th century. In addition to other mathematical achievements, he is given credit for the Fibonacci Sequence. The Sequence is where each number is the sum of the two preceding numbers:

1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34 (and so on)

It may not seem obvious, but there is a strong connection between this sequence and artwork composition. If you look at our logo and visualize each square as a number that increases in size the same as the sequence you have the Fibonacci Spiral. (or our logo). Another connection is what is called the Golden Ratio or the Divine Ratio. Two quantities whose ratio is the same as the sum of the total to the larger ratio. (does your head hurt?) Just think of it as the Rule of Thirds. It is a way of balancing the composition of a picture. Nicer than just centering something. These pictures come from markmitchellpaintings.com

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/

I totally learned something this week. We always think that we know compatible glass by its COE. I really thought that when Bullseye started saying Bullseye compatible they were really trying to brand themselves and set themselves apart. Now Oceanside is doing the same. I read a very interesting article that was written by Daniel W. Schwoerer from Bullseye Glass. It is Bullseye Technotes #3. If you would like to read the entire article, click here: https://www.bullseyeglass.com/images/stories/bullseye/PDF/TechNotes/technotes_03.pdf To summarize, the article says that you really must take more than coe into consideration when deciding if glass is compatible. Mr. Schwoerer says you should also consider viscosity. COE would be how much the glass expands when being heated and how much it contracts when cooling. The viscosity would be the thickness. A high viscosity glass when melting would flow slower. The article does say how to test. I guess if you were doing a large piece and mixing glass (manufacturers) it may be important to do it. So the question is can you put 90 dichroic with Bullseye glass? It is small generally, probably not a lot of expansion and contraction and not a lot of viscosity flow. It is safe to put Wissmach with Youghiogheny or Uroboros or Spectrum. Goodness knows we have and we have done it successfully. However, now and then we hear “my piece cracked for no reason”. Well maybe now we know the reason?

This week I was waiting on customer who wants to do mosaic something that will be outside. When she asked for the correct products, I could not help but think of this situation that was written about in the Fall and Winter 2017 issues Stained Glass magazine. (Info comes from there and an article in Alabama Living.) All I could think of was “make sure it is weather proof!" This amazing piece of art is located at the Huntsville, Alabama First Baptist Church. It took seven years to complete (1966 to 1973) and contained approximately 1.4 millions pieces of Italian tile – none larger than a thumbnail. This mosaic is giant! There are seven bays and each bay is 18’x45’. It is about 5,600 sq ft of mosaic. It made the news because it was falling apart! A team went in to asses the issues. They determined the problems were: Glass tiles were used instead of smalti, (Smalti are ½-1/3 the size of tiles but twice as thick. Smalti do have a beveled edge) the mounting of the tiles to a netting with epoxy was not the best method, the materials used were of dubious quality, the cements used to install the mosaic were not the best choice, and the methods used to apply the cement and mosaic sections were suspect and probably incorrect. Within a year of the installation glass started to fall! 50 years later the team was trying to determine the best way to fix it. The decision was made to remove the entire mosaic and replace it with new. The design was to be reproduced and this time fabricated and installed correctly! The color palette was to remain the same, but it was allow to increased the depth of color and make some minor corrections to the design. This project is still going on. At the time of the Winter issue of Stained Glass bay two was complete and Bay 3 was underway, schedule to be complete by Easter.

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!!)

All this info comes from the Epilepsy Foundation site and note that the pyramids rights are protected. I never had the privilege of knowing Kevin, but I know his mom, Patricia Barnes, and I have met his delightful brother and I have even helped clean the pyramids! Trish made this incredible collection of pyramids (out of stained glass, of course) after the drowning death of Kevin when he was not quite 17. These pyramids have been donated to the Epilepsy foundation for fundraising for epilepsy research and hopefully new therapies and strategies to improve the life of people living with seizures. Money raised from the sale of the pyramids fund young researchers called “Kevin’s Fellows”.

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!