Abrasion: Technique of grinding shallow decoration with a wheel where the decorated areas are left unpolished. Also used as a general term for any technique that wears away the surface.
Abstract Design: 1. A design whose forms have been reduced or modified from representational forms or a design using non-representational forms.
Acid Etching: The process of etching the surface of glass with hydrofluoric acid. Acid-etched decoration is produced by covering the glass with an acid-resistant substance through which the design is scratched. A mixture of dilute hydrofluoric acid and potassium fluoride is then applied to etch the exposed areas of glass. Acid etching was first developed on a commercial scale by Richardson's of Stourbridge, England, who registered a patent in 1857. An effect superficially similar to weathering may be obtained by exposing glass to fumes of hydrofluoric acid to make an allover matte surface.
Acid Polishing: The process of making a glossy, polished surface by dipping the object, usually of cut glass, into a mixture of hydrofluoric and sulfuric acids. The technique was developed in the late 19th century.
Acid Stamping: The process of acid etching a trademark or signature into glass after it has been annealed, using a device that resembles a rubber stamp.
Alabaster Glass: Translucent white glass, similar to opal glass, first produced in Bohemia in the 19th century. In the 1920s, Frederick Carder (1863-1963) introduced alabaster glass at Steuben Glass Works in Corning, New York. Carder's alabaster glass has an iridescent finish made by spraying the object with stannous chloride and then reheating it.
Alabastron: (Greek) or Alabastrum (Latin): A small bottle or flask for perfume or toilet oil, usually with a flattened rim, a narrow neck, a cylindrical body, and two small handles.
Ale Glass: A type of English drinking glass for ale or beer. Ale glasses, first made in the 17th century, have a tall and conical cup, a stem, and a foot. They may be enameled, engraved, or gilded with representations of hops or barley.
Alkali In glassmaking, a soluble salt consisting mainly of potassium carbonate or sodium carbonate. It is one of the essential ingredients of glass, generally accounting for about 15-20 percent of the batch. The alkali is a flux, which reduces the melting point of the major constituent of glass, silica.
Amberina: A type of Art Glass that varies in color from amber to ruby red or purple on the same object. This shaded effect is due to the presence of gold in the batch. The object is amber when it emerges from the lehr, but partial reheating causes the affected portion to become red or purple. Amberina, developed by Joseph Locke (1846-1936) at the New England Glass Company in East Cambridge , Massachusetts, was patented in 1883
Ambient Light: The existing, diffused light. Light coming from many directions.
Ancient Glass: A term frequently used to mean all pre-Roman and ancient Roman glass.
Annagrün (German): A type of yellowish green glass colored by adding uranium oxide to the batch. Developed by Josef Riedel (1816-1894), who named it for his wife, Anna, this glass was made from the 1830s and 1840s. See also Uranium glass.
Annealing: The process of slowly cooling a completed object in an auxiliary part of the glass furnace, or in a separate furnace. This is an integral part of glassmaking because if a hot glass object is allowed to cool too quickly, it will be highly strained by the time it reaches room temperature; indeed, it may break as it cools. Highly strained glasses break easily if subjected to mechanical or thermal shock. See Lehr.
Antique Glass: Glass that not necessarily old itself but made in the traditional method of handblowing where a cylinder of glass is blown and then cut and flattened into sheets. It is most often characterized by random striations (lines) and bubbles within the sheet. It is transparent yet distorts items view through it due to its crystalline structure. Variations of antique glass may include seedy, crackle, flashed, opal, opak, reamy and streaky. There are also machine rolled glasses that mimic the striations found in antique glasses.
Applied Decoration: Heated glass elements (such as canes, murrini, and trails) applied during manufacture to a glass object that is still hot, and either left in relief or marvered until they are flush with the surface. See also Marquetry and Pick-up decoration.
Apse: The semi-circular termination of the east end of the chancel or chapel.
Architectural Glass: Stained glass designed, made and installed to harmonize with the structure and function of a building.
Armature: A metal divisional bar or bars making a framework for supporting stained glass, usually fixed into a wall. Also used within concrete for strengthening.
Art Deco: The style of work produced in the early twentieth century that reached its apex at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes held in Paris in 1925. Characterized by bold geometric shapes, streamlined and rectilinear forms.
Art Glass: Several types of glass with newly developed surface textures, shaded colors, or casing, made in the United States from about 1870 and in Europe between about 1880 and 1900 or more generally, any ornamental glassware made since the mid-19th century.
Art Nouveau (French, "new art"): An international, late 19th- and early 20th-century decorative style characterized by organic foliate forms, sinuous lines, and non-geometric, "whiplash" curves. Art Nouveau originated in Europe in the 1880s, and reached the peak of its popularity around 1900. In America, it inspired, among others, Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933). The name is derived from "La Maison de l'Art Nouveau," a gallery for interior design that opened in Paris in 1896.
At-the-Fire: The process of reheating a blown glass object at the glory hole during manufacture, to permit further inflation and/or manipulation with tools.
Aurene Glass: A type of ornamental glass with an iridescent surface made by spraying the glass with stannous chloride or lead chloride and reheating it under controlled atmospheric conditions. Aurene glass was developed by Frederick Carder (1863-1963) at Steuben Glass Works in Corning, New York, in 1904.
Aureole: A radiant light around a head or body of the representation of a sacred person.
Autonomous Panel: A non-architectural stained glass composition.
Aventurine: Translucent glass with sparkling inclusions of gold, copper, or chromic oxide, first made in Venice in the 15th century. Aventurine glass imitates the mineral of the same name, a variety of quartz spangled with mica.
Awning Window: A window whose sash is hinged at the top and projects out when open.
The sources for this material include:
•Glass: A Pocket Dictionary of Terms Commonly Used to Describe
Glass and Glassmaking.
Compiled by David Whitehouse, 88 pp., 47 illus., 1993
•How to Work in Stained Glass. Anita & Seymour Isenberg,
247 pp., 1972
•Stained Glass Lamps. Anita & Seymour Isenberg, 222
pp., 1972
•The Techniques of Stained Glass. Partrick Reyntiens, 168
pp. 1977
•The Coming Museum Website: www.cmog.org
• The Stained Glass Association of America Website: www.stainedglass.org
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