The Studio Artist

After losing control of Steuben in 1932, Carder, then 69 years old, adjusted his sails with great difficulty, but continued his busy career….

The cire perdue process as developed by Carder for glass casting, is complex.

The greatest challenge of the process lay in developing the various materials to be used in the process, especially the materials for the final ceramic mold. It was here that Carder’s dogged determination to succeed came into play. Gardner, who at that time was Carder’s assistant, reports that as failure after failure results from the experimentation, Carder would emphatically comment, ‘Never say die-say DAMN!’ and plow ahead.

The difficulty in determining materials that would behave properly with glass at high temperatures resulted in Carder’s process being a developmental one….

As Carder developed better materials and techniques, his cire perdue castings became more complex. His early pieces were mostly plaques with low relief portraits of people whom either he or Gardner knew. Carder’s plaques were almost always rectangular or square and were produced during the first two years of his studio period. As the process developed, his figures became fuller and bolder in relief. Extremities such as arms, legs, and head started to become three-dimensional. As Carder’s mold materials improved and they became capable of withstanding higher temperatures, the glass could flow into more intricate molds. Thus, the sculpted objects Carder created could become even more complex and three-dimensional.

p. 104-107 Frederick Carder and Steuben Glass American Classics by Thomas P. Dimitroff