Monday, May 02, 2011

Dean Six of the W. Virginia Museum of Glass adds to the mould discussion.

Alan

Paste mould glass was common in my area until a decade or two ago. A few years ago, as a part of our annual Glass Gathering, we witnessed paste moulds being prepared at a Materpiece Crystal, small plant near the Museum.

The critical reason to use a paste mould is the fine wood dust applied with the “paste” quickly burns away leaving a thin layer of carbon. The carbon creates a non-stick and smooth surface between the glass and metal/iron mould. This makes the process easier as well as insuring a mould seam free product in the traditional use of “paste mould.”

I would note that two similar processes, paste mould and iron mould both use iron moulds. In paste mould the hot glass object is rotated by the blower while in the mould- this being the step that removes the mould seams and makes necessary the carbon layer to allow the smooth rotation of glass in the mould. The “iron mould” process is identical except the glass object is not rotated while in the mould and the mould is not smooth but includes relief features making rotation impossible.

Hope this clarifies things a wee bit

Dean

The question was asked about the dark blue jade whether it was satinized. Dick Stark of Bethesda, Md responds.

Are you aware that there is a bright acid which could reverse a satin finish to look as though it was from the kiln ? I don’t know why anyone suggested that the blue jade vase was satinized. clearly it was not.

Finally, another color of a molded piece from Leigh Ann Demrow of Janesville, WI

Alan, Since I can’t comment on how these were molded, I thought I would send this photo of my 5″ yellow jade vase with optic ribs. As a shade collector I really like these “shade vases”.

Leigh A. Demrow

Janesville, Wis.

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2011 Carder Steuben Club annual Symposium will be held at The Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, NY from September 15-17, 2011.

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