COLORED CRYSTALS —TRANSPARENCIES
By Robert Mueller

One of the eras that Mr. Carder mastered during his years at Steuben Glass for which he was not, in my opinion, given due recognition and credit is the Victorian era as executed with his colored crystals.

It begins with his creation of 140 different colors, some so similar that the naked eye might not be able to tell the difference. We see such beauty, grace and brilliance in all that I have to wonder why the public didn’t fully understand Mr. Carder’s achievement.

While other glass companies developed their own colored crystals, they just don’t compare to the colors Mr. Carder created over his 29 years as manager of Steuben Glass.

As collectors we have all seen colored crystals from other companies from the Victorian era, and in my conversations with many other collectors there seems to be a unanimity of opinion that no one glass artist compares to Mr. Carder’s colored crystals.

With Mr. Carder’s background as a chemist and his prior years as an artistic director at England ’s Stevens & Williams, perhaps it explains how he could excel and come up with so many different colors. Besides the creation of his vibrant colors, where he excelled, was his ability to develop colors that work in glorious compatible color combinations. Combinations such as Celeste Blue-Amethyst, Pomona Green-Rosa, Bristol Yellow-Mirror Black, Amethyst-Crystal, plus many others,

While in any of Mr. Carder’s single simple forms of colored art glass there is great beauty in how Mr. Carder executed the piece, his extensions of techniques capture his mastery of the Victorian era. Besides color combinations, the addition of elements of ribbing, prunts, ring handles, finials, reeding and appliqués add that extra touch completing the beauty and grace to the piece.

I have pieces here for you to look at and see why I have such a love for Mr. Carder and his colored crystals. http://www.kddk.com/alans/ColoredCrystals-Transparent.pdf

There is no other artist I have witnessed who I feel did justice to colored crystal glass as Mr. Carder did.

Bob Mueller
April 30, 2009
Osseo , MN