Acid Etched

Dec 17, 2015
Issue 2371

Lifetime of Love

Greetings Alan,

Want you to know what a terrific synopsis of Frederick Carder’s artistic influences
you presented in the Gazelle Gazette today (Wednesday #2370). The gorgeous Carder creations we pursue and appreciate incorporate a lifetime love of design and understanding of
technique/materials/chemistry. Impossible to appreciate unless one is familiar
with their origins and late 19th century British etched glass innovations in particular.
This brief article is must reading for any Carder collector.

Audrey Lipton, NYC

Shape #6078

Gold Aurene Vase Cut to Black, which was then cut to a pebbled background

Thistle Pattern

7 3/4 Inch height

Yesterday’s Gazette #2370

In the late Nineteenth Century the English were making incredible carved glass works of art fashioned after the ancient Portland vase. These cameo glass pieces were being crafted while a young Frederick Carder was applying his ideas to the production at Stevens & Williams. He worked under the tutelage of the highly respected John Northwood.

He and Mr. Northwood designed and crafted some of the finest cameo glass ever made; and a team of expert glassmakers rarely assembled up to that time executed other examples, some of which look weeks to carve.

This was the cauldron that forged Mr. Carder’s love of glass and its intriguing play of light and color. Cameo glass was so cost prohibitive that many glass house started using acid cutting, at first combined with wheel polishing and detailing, and later just acid cutting. Most of the glass produced was repetitive and gradually faded from favor; that is, with the exception of the works that Frederick Carder was producing at Steuben.

Most of the colors and techniques he created for Steuben ended up in the treasured acid cut pieces. The process was timeless, but the style was all Frederick Carder. Nowhere is his skill and talent better revealed than in the vast array of acid cut pieces.

Objects of Desire, The Art of Frederick Carder by Alan Shovers @ p.68

Shape #2683

Gold Aurene Vase Cut to Black

Norfolk Pattern

8 1/2 Inches High

Symposium 2025
Carder Steuben Glass Association
19-20 September 2025
© Carder Steuben Glass Association Inc.