Monday, August 06, 2012

Michael Krumme of Los Angeles wrote the following piece for the Elegant Glass Club of Southern California after seeing a piece of Moss Agate for auction sale. Since Michael is writing about Carder’s Moss Agate I thought you would like to see it and I’m sure Michael will be happy to share it..

Hi All,

As you may recall from the lecture on Frederick Carder-era Steuben glass given by Alan Shovers at one of our joint meetings with the cut glass club a little over a year ago, there were many fascinating glass techniques used at Steuben during that era (roughly 1901-1932.) One of my favorites is Moss Agate. This is a glass that resembled the marbleized stone of the same name.

My understanding of the technique is that the glass gather was rolled in multicolored glass frit (like small gritty bits of glass), encased in a clear layer over that, and then shaped. The little bits of glass melted and stretched to create a stone like effect. Moss Agate comes in a number of shades of the background glass, including blue and purple. But this particular shade / color combination is my clear favorite. I hope to own a piece of it someday… however this $10,000 vase that was satinized on the outside and intended to be fitted with metal parts to create a lamp isn’t coming to my house anytime soon. (Besides, I like the shiny-surface Moss Agate.)

To see this and other Steuben techniques, log onto www.cardersteubenclub.org, and click on the Shape Index. You can then select types of glass from a drop down menu, and see the various shades of Moss Agate.

Watch out, though — you can get lost for hours browsing this site!

Michael

www.cardersteubenclub.org

2012 Carder Steuben Club annual Symposium will be held at The Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, NY from September 20-22, 2012.

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