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The Many Uses of Silver

November 4, 2012 in Videos, Museums, and more Resources

While most of us tend to think of silver when it comes to our jewelry or our silverware, there are actually quite a few other things silver is great for. Not only does it create stunning objects but it also is becoming a very important aspect of everyday health as well as solar energy.

Today, we are going to let you in on bits of information that you may not have realized about our favorite type of metal; allowing you to recognize just how important this fine metal is and why everyone is so gaga over it.

Keeping Your Water Pure

Silver is actually used in water filters as a way to get rid of bacteria and algae that can form within your filters. Not only does silver get rid of any issues you may have, but it also prevents them from happening in the future. Always make sure to buy a water filter that contains silver (the metal helps with water odor as well).

Silver Works Great with Electronics

Many sound systems use silver as a way to boost the overall sound quality. Silver is extremely conductive, getting the job done very nicely. There also is a lot of silver in your typical car. A dab of silver on the tip of switches can get you a long way; helping power your engine, windows and much more, fast.

Batteries

Silver is used in batteries for devices like hearing aids as a way to lengthen the life of the product and saving you money.

Photography

Silver is used in photography due to its affordability and high quality. Your pictures wouldn’t come out as beautiful as they do if it weren’t for silver. It doesn’t take much for silver to activate, causing your photos to become permanent parts of your history.

Jewelry and Silverware

The reason silver is such a loved and trusted metal in jewelry and silverware is because it has the quality of gold but gives a much brighter shine that cannot be denied. Silver is the easiest metal to polish and looks the best when compared side by side to all other metals.

Silver in Clothing

Small amounts of silver is added to clothing in order to prevent bacteria from growing. Silver also works great at keeping your clothes smelling nice, which we think is a plus.

Silver and Glass, a Beautiful Mix

Ever wondered how a mirror works? It’s pretty amazing, isn’t it? Did you know that in order for a mirror to work, silver must be present? It’s hard to imagine a world without any mirrors!

Silver coated glass has been found to be able to reflect 70% of heat. This minor change to a home or business can save quite a pretty penny in a year’s time. In the past few years, the amount of silver-coated windows has more than doubled.

Medical Uses of Silver

Silver is a great fighter against bacteria and this is why medically, silver is used on a regular basis. Silver helps speed up the body’s healing process and lowers the risk of infections. All sorts of items around hospitals contain silver in them to keep everything sterile. This includes: bandages, hospital gowns, and even bed frames. Other types of metals can harm the human body, but silver is extremely gentle which is why it is in such high demand.

Silver can also be found in catheters to keep the risk of infection down as well as in X-ray machines. Another interesting fact about silver is that it has been recently added to breathing tubes. Studies have shown that the small amount of silver coated actually helped fight against pneumonia.

Many Industrial Uses

In just about every industry you can think of, silver is a necessity. Silver is used for its strength, reliability and electrical and thermal conductivity. Unlike other metals, silver can handle the most drastic changes in temperature.

When it comes to solar energy, silver has a leading role. It is actually the main ingredient in solar panels today and the reason we are able to turn the sun’s light into energy to power our homes and businesses. In upcoming years, silver is going to be used more than ever to keep us living in a world that keeps getting ‘greener’.

Invest in Your Future with Silver

With so many uses, it’s no wonder silver demand is so high. Silver not only helps us on a daily basis in one way or another but it is also an investment in our futures. The price of silver is constantly changing and this is why it’s always a good idea to keep on your toes and see what you can get for your money.

Saving a stash of silver may prove to be an amazing investment for not only your future but the future of your family as well. It’s always good to have a backup plan in case money is to ever become tight. Watch closely and we’re sure you are bound to find some great deals on silver. Watching the rates of silver is a lot like watching the stock market moving up and down; but boy once you find a great deal, the wait will be well worth it.

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Hi, I am Bejim Ford and I am a general blogger. I write guest post on variety of topics and provide guidance through the articles. Click on the link to get valuable account of knowledge on magazinesubscriptions.com.

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Priceless? Or Worthless? How to Spot a Forged Painting

April 27, 2012 in Videos, Museums, and more Resources

forged art painting

Whilst it might not quite be the oldest profession in the world (we won’t go into that), the forgery and reproduction of artworks has been going on for more than two thousand years. The Romans, for example, assiduously copied classical Greek sculptures and sold them on as originals. Even the luminaries of the art world such as Michelangelo, Reubens and Pieter Breughel the Younger are reputed to have been involved in a little ‘creative copying’ at some point in their careers.

These days art counterfeiting techniques have become extremely sophisticated, and sometimes even reputable art museums and galleries are caught out. Arguably the best way to avoid falling fouls of a forger of paintings is to become intimately acquainted with the techniques of your preferred artist; not just their materials, technique and signature but also their range of subject matter, typical framing and any distinguishing features that might be found on the reverse of the canvas or frame.

Amateur art enthusiasts may find an illuminated microscope a good investment or at least a powerful magnifying glass of some description, but even if you’re a relatively uninitiated art purchaser there are often tell-tale signs that may help you to spot a forged painting.

art-forgery

Clues that help you spot a forged painting

Whist this is by no means an exhaustive list, here are a few of the mistakes that an art forger might make and suggest that a painting is not an artist’s original work:

Inconsistencies in the artist’s signature – does the signature look somehow ‘fresher’ or more recent than the rest of the painting? And how does it compare with the signature that appears on works that you know to be genuine? A lack of confidence in applying the signature (i.e. when it’s done by someone other than the original artist) can make the signature appear shaky or forced rather than spontaneous and fluid as you would expect.
Look for signs of artificial ageing – a painting can be made to look older than it is by applying a fine coat of yellow varnish and even adding dust to the layer to enhance ‘authenticity’. The painting’s frame may be artificially distressed or stained and aged-looking labels may be applied to the reverse of the painting.
Check the appearance of the frame – if it’s claimed that the frame is original, check the joints. A frame of the correct age may have been cut to size and applied to a counterfeit painting. Often it can be difficult to fully disguise where the older frame has been cut; do the joints look original or is there a suggestion that they might have been cut more recently?
Look for indentations or rust marks – visible marks left behind on a painting from nails or other mounting methods may indicate that the painting has, at the very least, been removed from its original frame.
Examine the edges and borders – if an unframed canvas has suspiciously straight and neatly cut edges it may mean that a larger painting has been trimmed to size, or that the painting is a mechanically-finished reproduction.

The Enid Hutt Gallery sells artwork from contemporary living artists including Alexander Millar prints

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The place where every glass is handmade.

Tags: forgery
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Where to Find Mirakkul Glassware

January 26, 2012 in Videos, Museums, and more Resources

There are lots of ways to contact us. Just pick your favorite method and we’ll respond within 24 hours.

Email us at support@mirakkulglassware.com. You can also use our online email form.
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This blog right here!

Hope to hear from you soon!

Tags: mirakkul glassware
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A Simplified Guide to the Glass Blowing Process

January 18, 2012 in Videos, Museums, and more Resources

Glass blowing is an interesting topic to learn about, and just observing the process is simply mesmerizing. It is complicated and various steps are required to make state-of-the-art hand blown glass.

Here are the simplified steps:

1. Prepare the Equipments

Before a glass blower starts working on glass, the right equipments should be prepared. There should be a furnace where you can melt clear glass and place inside a crucible. There must be a place where the glass blower forms his art glass work. There should also be an oven that keeps the pipes hot, and a cooling oven which helps to slowly cool the glass and make it stronger.

2. Make the Glass

Glass is molten at above 1000° F and color is added as necessary. Refer to this post to read more about the various coloring agents used for glass art.

3. Shape the Glass

The glass blower puffs on one end of the blow pipe to create a bubble of glass. Then, heated glass continues to be heated, turned, and shaped. This process is repeated depending on the size and shape of the piece.

Afterwards, heated glass is transferred onto another steel pipe (punty). At this point the glass blower adds an opening to the piece. The artist separates the glass from the blow pipe, leaving it attached to the punty. He needs to be careful not to break the piece.

When the glass blower is satisfied with the piece, he removes it from the punty. He hits it firmly so the piece will drop into a box with layers of fire blanket for cushioning.

4. Place It in the Cooling Oven

This is the last part of the glass blowing process. The oven starts at about 960° F and cools down to room temperature. The cooling process must be slow to prevent glass from cracking or breaking.

Glass blowers have to be patient to complete every hand blown glass. Amazing glass art is the output of their hard-work and patience. This is what makes hand blown glass so charming!

Tags: glass blowing, glass making
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Chemistry of Glass Art

December 14, 2011 in Videos, Museums, and more Resources

Your high school chemistry knowledge can be used for something that doesn’t look so scientific at the first glance: Chemistry plays an important part in creating beautiful glass art. Without chemists who have discovered elements that can enhance certain properties and colors of glass, we would not have the wide variety of art glass available today.

Knowing the reactions and formulas is essential when you want to create your own glassware. It is also helpful in understanding and appreciating hand blown glass made by other artists.

There is one significant reason that makes glass art the result of science; glass is not a substance that naturally occurs in large quantities, especially not in the pure form that humans usually want it to be. Basically the cavemen had to wait until a volcano erupted or a lightning struck until they could find some glass. So as civilization progressed, humans had to find a way to create it artificially, if they want to satisfy the demand.

There are two essential elements that go into making glass: silica (sand, quartz, flint) and alkali (soda, potash). Alkali melts silica, so that the two can combine easily.

Silica is the most important ingredient, taking up about 60-70%. Venetians traditionally crushed white quartz pebbles, and the English burnt flints for silica. Pure silica, free from impurities, is ideal. When unrefined silica is used to make glass, the color would turn out to be dark green or brown, which is seen in early glassware and the least expensive types of glassware. But if one wants to create fine glass, sand has to be washed and heated carefully.

The rest of the glass consists of up to 20% alkali flux. Traditionally, plants and trees were burnt to obtain it. Soda and potash continue to be used in glass making even today.

Other ingredients are sometimes added for various purposes:

- Lime: Adds stability. Using lime will produce light and inexpensive glass, used for bottles, window panes, and light bulbs.

- Magnesium: to counter the effects of impurities in the sand. It makes glass clear and colorless.

- Lead oxide: For weight and brilliance. George Ravenscroft developed the use of lead oxide in 1674 in England, with which he made durable, brilliant, and weighty glass that could sustain deep cuts. The addition of lead oxide literally changed the history of glass and trade because after its appearance the Venetian cristallo lost some of its allure.

- Metal oxides: for various colors, be it red, blue, or green.

When the proportions of chemical elements are not right, glass might appear “crizzled.” Hence understanding chemistry and the combination and interaction of elements are a very important part in creating high quality glass work.

Go to metal oxides used to make colored glass for more on the coloring agents.

Tags: chemistry and glass, colored glass, glass art
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Creating Color in Art of Glass – The History and the Steps

December 14, 2011 in Videos, Museums, and more Resources

The technique for producing colored glass was discovered before the method for producing clear glass was discovered. This was because glass in its natural form has a greenish brown color, and various coloring agents were used to hide that natural shade – adding color was easier than getting rid of an already existing one. Another reason for using colored glass was that people wanted to imitate the colors of precious stones. Often colored glass was as expensive as precious stones and only the wealthy and nobles could wear them as jewelry.

Egyptian vessels were notably rich in their opaque colors, especially the various shades of blue.

The Romans were the first to create colorless glass by adding manganese oxide, and it was greatly prized as a luxury good for the wealthy. They also continued to develop new colors. Quality colored glass was hard to obtain and was thus sometimes as expensive as semi-precious stones.However, after the fall of the Roman Empire, there was little progress in discovering new shades.

Today, numerous kinds of metal oxides are used to create colored glass for various effects. The discovery of chemical elements has made the options of colors even more varied.

Click here for a complete list of metals used as coloring agents and the resulting colors of glass art.

There are four steps to creating colored glass.

1. Unrefined glass that is naturally green or brown is needed. This can be made by mixing silica and alkali.

2. Various metal oxide(s), sulphides, or selenides are added to the batch for creating different colors.

3. Metal colored particles are added.

4. In a process called ‘striking,’ minute metallic particles are added to the glass and carefully re-heated. The final color of the glass depends on the temperature during this re-heating process.

Tags: colored glass
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List of Commonly used Coloring Agents and Resulting Colors

December 14, 2011 in Videos, Museums, and more Resources

The following is the list of metals used to create specific colors in glass. Artists often create their own formula for the right color with the right amount of metal to make unique glass art. Use this list as a reference when you create your own beautiful glassware.

Antimony: yellow

Chromium: yellow-green

Cobalt: blue

Copper: turquoise, green, or red

Gold: ruby red

Iron: Iron is present naturally in most glass making ingredients. It gives a natural green or brown shade to the glass. If added more, deep emerald green is created. It can also be combined with manganese or antimony to produce yellow, amber, brown, and black.

Manganese: amethyst, purple, rose-pink

Nickel: violet (potash-glass), yellow (soda-glass)

Selenium: pink (soda-glass), amber (lead-glass)

Silver: yellow

Tin: opaque white, or opacity in other colors

Titanium: yellow-brown

Uranium: greenish yellow

The same color can be made with various metal oxides, but the shade and feel may be different.

Tags: colors in glass, glass art
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Glass Vocabulary from A to Z – Part 5

December 8, 2011 in Videos, Museums, and more Resources

More helpful vocabulary related to hand blown glass:

- Tesserae: Small pieces of glass arranged and cemented into mosaic compositions. Used to decorate interiors and in jewelry.

- Thermal Shock: Caused by a sudden shift of temperature, either hot or cold, making the glass to break, crack or shatter.

- Thermocouple: Bimetal probe that measures the temperature of the kiln.

- Thread: A thin wrap or spiral of glass that goes around a vessel

- Threading Wheel: A pipe rest that spins the pipe evenly, allowing the artist to evenly apply a spiral down the piece.

- Tongs: A tool for picking up, transferring, and applying water to the punty to remove the glass piece from the pipe of blowpipe.

- Trailing: Decorative application of softened threads of glass to the surface of an object. At first, the process is similar to combed threads method described above. But the difference is that after the glass thread is trailed onto the surface, the piece is reheated without marvering. Romans, Venetians, and English used this method.

Read more about Roman glass in Ancient Roman Hand Blown Glass and Trade and Ancient Roman Glass Art Style.

- Twist: Decorative stem used mainly on 18th century English drinking glasses. They have white, colored or air threads, twisted within the metal to create elaborate designs.

- Tweezers: A tool used to pinch and pull glass

- Virtual Production Replications: remaking and replacing an original production glass piece with an as close as possible custom made glass piece for repair, recovery or restoration.

- Wax: Bee Wax and or Carnuba wax that is used to coat the jacks so that they do not stick to the glass

- Wetting Off: Using cold water to control the break and separation when the glass work is separated from the blowpipe or pipe.

- Wheel-cutting or wheel-engraving: Decorating the surface of glass by grinding it with a wheel, using disks of various sizes and materials.

- Wrap: A string or spiral of glass that is added on to the main piece. It is used for decorations, sometimes made of a contrasting color from a vessel. It can be molten into the piece or can be left 3 dimensional.

- Yoke: A stand in front of the gloryhole that is used as a support for the blowpipes. It allows the artist to turn the pipe easily with little effort.

Tags: glass art, glass blowing, glass vocabulary
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Glass Vocabulary from A to Z – Part 4

December 8, 2011 in Videos, Museums, and more Resources

- Obsidian: Natural form of volcanic glass, usually black.

- Optic Mold: A steel or bronze mold that puts ridges or other shapes into the vessel. It is made with brass or aluminum and comes in many different styles. For example, open-bottom ribbed molds are typically used for cane pickups, while close-bottom ribbed molds are used to add a straight optic pattern. Pineapple molds create a unique diamond effect, that looks like the patterns on a pineapple, on the vessel.

- Overlay: A thin layer of clear of colored glass that is folded, formed, or coated on top of another glass

- Overshot Glass: Rolled molten glass covered with splinters, covering the surface of a completed glass work.

- Pacioffi: Wooden jack used to open up large pieces like bowls and plates.

- Paddle: A wooden or metal tool used to flatten the bottom of a piece

- Parison: The unshaped small bubble and first gather

- Pasterelli: A flat plate mounted on a steel rod that can be used to hold latticino glass, sheet glass, murrini and glass components, while they are in the glory hole.

- Pate de verre (French: glass paste) : This material is produced by grinding glass into a fine powder, adding a binder to create a paste, and fluxing medium to facilitate melting.

- Pattern-molding: Blowing molten glass into a mold with a patterned interior.

- Pegging: Placing a parison into a gathering pit.

- Pick-up Decoration: Picking up color from a marver before blowing the glass out.

- Pillar-molding: A popular Roman decoration of vertical ribs formed by working vessels while soft with pincers and other tools, or by molding. Find out more about Ancient Roman Hand Blown Glass and Trade and Ancient Roman Glass Art Style.

- Pipe Warmer: Small gas oven used to preheat the steel pipes. Many glory holes have pipe warmers built into the side

- Polishing: Buffing the glass cuts or grindings to a bright clear luster.

- Pontil: Iron rod used for handling glass during manufacture.

- Pot: A holding area for molten glass where it is continually kept at a designated temperature for gathering.

- Prunt: Blob of decorative glass applied to the surface of an object for decoration and to facilitate holding. Mainly used for drinking vessels.

- Punty: A solid steel rod that is used for bits and for the transfer process of the piece from on the blowpipe. Also refers to the hot glass itself that is gathered, or the technique used to change the end of the glass that is being worked on.

- Pyrometer: High heat thermometer used to measure temperature inside the furnace or glory hole.

- Rag: Thick layers of wet newspapers folded to provide a cool safe pad for the glassworker to shape the hot molten glass.

- Reheat: Heating the glass back to a molten state, usually done in the glory hole.

- Reticello filigrana(Italian: small network) : Invented during the early 16th century. Equal lengths of circular-sectioned clear glass rods containing white or colored glass threads are fused and gathered along one edge, then blown to the required shape.

- Ringer: Glass worker who applies the ring for glass to a larger piece.

- Rods: Sticks of glass used for filigree or millefiori decorations.

- Rondelle: A flat blown glass that was spun hot.

- Sandblasting: Projecting abrasive material by using compressed air to matt or to penetrate the glass surface.

The Object is first covered with a protective mask, and only the areas that will be decorated are left unprotected. Then, the whole piece is subjected to blasts of sand or powdered iron that are projected from a special gun. This creates a frosted look.
- Satin Glass: Acid, matt finish or frosting.

- Sawing: Cutting glass with a rotating wheel with a blade, usually diamond tipped.

- Scavo: A process in which a corrosive chemical is added to the surface of hot glass while cooling it to give the surface a rough, matt finish.

- Sculpting: Free forming solid glass with hand, while glass is in molten form.

- Seeds: Small air bubbles found in glass that has not been squeezed.

- Shears: Scissors used for the cutting, trimming and shaping of hot glass.

- Silesia: The main ingredient of glass used for art glass.

- Silveria: A type of art glass with incased silver foil.

- Slumping: Shaping glass by allowing it to sag through its own weight into or over a form during heating in a kiln

- Slumped: Flat glass that is molten to take the shape of the form it is designed to sink into.

- Sodium Flare: Bright light that is given off of the reaction of oxygen rich flame and sodium in the glass in a kiln.

- Soffietta (Italian: little puffer) : A cone on the end of a small pipe. Used to blow air into a piece when it is on the punty, to add shape.

- Soliflore: A French term for a vase with a bulbous body and a long drawn out neck for a single flower.

- Sommerso: Thick glass that has usually been cased several times.

- Spatter Glass: Glass with flecks of contrasting color rolled into it.

- Sputtering: Metal coating process for the glass surface.

- Squeeze: The process of getting seeds out of the glass, by cooling the glass in the furnace and then reheating it, and forcing the air bubbles out at the top portion of the glass.

- Steam Stick: Cone-shaped piece of wood used in place of a soffietta. Uses water soaked into the wood to create steam which can push the glass out.

- Stippling: Decorative technique of tapping a glass surface gently with a pointed instrument to create design and tonal effects with tiny dots, called stipples.

- Stretch Glass: Cracked iridescence on the surface.

- Striking: Reheating of glass objects to develop certain colors and/or special effects.

- Studio Glass: Unique work handmade by a single artist-maker, as distinguished from factory-made glassware.

Tags: glass art, glass blowing, glass vocabulary
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Glass Vocabulary from A to Z – Part 3

December 8, 2011 in Videos, Museums, and more Resources

- Jack: A glass making tool that looks like a big tweezer. Pucella in Italian, this tool is used to manipulate hot glass and selectively cooling the glass and putting creases (jack-lines) in the neck of vessels where they are to break for the transfer. They come in various sizes.

- Kevlar Gloves/ Kevlar Mitts: Heat resistant gloves or big mittens that are used to carry the glass from the knock off table to the annealer.

- Kiln: Oven for heating glass at a lower temperature than that of the furnace. It is used for fusing enamels or kiln forming processes.

- Kiln-forming: Also known as kiln-casting or kiln-fusing. Fusing or shaping glass by heating it in a kiln.

- Knock Off Table: A table covered with a woven silica fabric that the artist uses as a rest for a piece prior to putting it in the annealer. Silica fabric can withstand heat from a freshly made piece. A piece that is knocked off onto the table is softened at the sharp edges before it is placed into the annealer.

- Knop: A decorative blob or protrusion appearing commonly on stems of drinking glasses, in various styles.

- Latticino (Italian: “milk”): Broad term used to describe opaque white threads of filigree decoration for the outside of glass.

- Lead crystal: Also known as lead glass, it is glass with higher proportion of lead oxide. Soft, low melting, brilliant glass made by George Ravenscroft in 1674. Thicker glass can sustain deeper cuts, so that Ravenscroft’s invention of lead glass was critical in the development of more and more extravagant styles of cutting and engraving. Find out how Venetian glass influenced the invention of lead crystal.

- Leaf: Paper thin glass, often of gold or silver, that can be used in surface decoration

- Lip: The top edge of the piece. This is the part that is opened with the jacks

- Knurling: A glass band or bead wrapped around a larger project.

- Lear: A gigantic oven that is computer-controlled to relieve stress during the annealing process.

- Maestro: Italian glass master

- Marver: A flat steel or marble plate used for the picking up color chips or the shaping of molten glass on the end of a blowpipe or pipe with a rolling action. The artist can roll the glass on this table to achieve a particular shape. It can also help in the uneven cooling of the glass.

- Marvering: Process of rolling a mass of molten glass, still attached to the blow-pipe, on a hard flat surface to make it uniform. It is also used to embed glass threads, blobs, and motifs into the surface of the object.

- Metal: Glass in molten or hard state.

- Millefiori (Italian, “thousand flowers”): Process of decorating glass with slices of colored canes arranged to resemble flowers by embedding them in a clear glass matrix or fusing them in a mold. Paperweights are often made using this method.

- Moile: Glass that is on the steel blowpipe or punty

- Moile-Wrap: Hot glass that is wrapped around the moile to keep it from breaking / cracking

- Mold-blowing: Forming of objects and decoration in low relief by blowing molten glass into a mold.

- Mold-pressing: Developed in 1827. Molten glass is poured into metal molds and pressed with a plunger to form a smooth interior and an exterior impressed with the patterned design in low relief.

- Murano: Famous glassmaking island of Venice. Read more about this enchanting island in Murano Glass Art and Venetian Glass Art and Guild System

- Murrini: A cross cut piece of glass in the form of tiles, with a design or color pattern, used in the creation of larger glass works. It is fused together in glass coloration designs.

- Neck: The edge of the piece that will be scored and separated when transferring the working piece onto the punty.

- Necking: Reducing an end of a blown glass to form a bottle neck.

Tags: glass art, glass blowing, glass vocabulary
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