Old New England Glassware in the Home - Part Nine - "Impasse"

Old New England Glassware in the Home

Part Nine

"Impasse"

            At the...end... of the craft person titled ‘glass blower’... in old New England... there is a flash of light (light in fact) where ‘they and they’ together form a union of production and product that... true to the ‘flash’... falls off leaving only a retina shadow and “no more” extending to ‘once was’ and that to the always useful to antiquarians; ‘a long, long time ago’.  ‘They and they’ are the ‘glass blower’ and the... men in the backroom (includes rum ration) who stomp on molten glass to ‘make’ a ‘pressed glass’... iota.

            That is the word we need here; iota.  What, of a stomped on goo-gob of molten glass may be created that is NOT iota; a ‘can actually be’... no; not ‘used’ but... ‘wanted’.  An ‘iota’ and the cost base of ‘making’ ‘glassware’ ‘iota’ ...does not a commercial fortune make.

            So let us clear this up right here:  No one made a fortune ‘making glassware’ for the old New England home.  Ever.  Most New England ‘glasshouses’ ‘went out of business’ ‘after a while’.  Others ‘hung on’ and ‘reinvented’ and... what ever else ‘worked”.  YES HERE TOO, just as the antiquarian marketplace for old New England glassware, the ‘IT” is not about money.  There is no money.  It’s... it... is... it.  With variations of peak qualities that decline to ...today’s juice glass oblivion.  But I get ahead of the self and the glassware-of-self... in the old New England home.

            Combining the ole ‘right place at the right time’, a glassblower with his fellow glass stomping backroom MEN stumbled into another man’s world that “MADE SOMETHING”... for the girls... that they ‘liked’... ‘used’ and ‘wanted’:  Light.  And a man said “May I fill your lamp font with spermaceti?”

            “Ah... what’s a lamp font and what is spermaceti... if it is as you claim... NOT what I think you suggesting.  You cad”.

            OK SO THESE MEN in ‘big boats” went away for years to hunt and kill whales.  And make ‘whale oil’ inclusive of gathering the premium grade ‘sperm oil’.  So came the... ‘whaling industry’ ...to the coast of New England.  “WE CAN DO THIS”.

            “What do you do with it (the ‘whale’ ‘oils’)?

            They made soap.

            And discovered they could... burn it... up.

            WHEN they did this last it... ‘made light’.  The only other thing making light in old New England... and old New England homes... was “CANDLES”.  I am not writing about candles.

            No other form of ‘lighting’ ‘was’ until... ok, ok, ok... there were ‘grease lamps’.

            Grease lamps:  Yeah THOSE were “SWEET”.  Old household cooking fat ‘as is - as found’ was, ah, scooped into little wooden ah... vessels... (‘lamp cups’) with a string stuck into it... or a piece of bark (“like who has any strings guys”) and, ah... a match (“like who has any matches guys”) held up to that and ah... yeah that’s what they called ‘a light’ and it smelled really... really... great... too... in the old New England home.

            Oh yeah and they ‘had’ “pine knots” too.  Those are the base of the white pine branch.  They lighted those on fire and carried them by the branch stub... around... as ‘light’.  Those didn’t actually smell that bad but, ah... a little Smokey in the house in addition to, like, burning the barn down.  Too.

            OK SO when they come around with ‘spermaceti’ and ‘lamp font’... and don’t think that burning spermaceti doesn’t ‘smell’... even thought it is the again stated premium ‘whale oil’... the girls were ready and past cautiously optimistic ‘about’ “WHALE OIL” “LIGHTING”.  The next great thing.  AND they made soap out of it TOO.

            OK SO

            How long is this gonna last?  NOT VERY LONG.  They run out of whales... due to going around the whole world in big boats killing them.  ‘Whale oil’ ‘cost’ became prohibitive and then... ah... ‘sold out’ (scarce) and then... reverses due to ...design innovations ‘of’ ‘lighting fluids’...:  That’s not what I writing about.  I am writing about... the WINDOW... for GLASSWARE this whaling industry created for... about... almost twenty years.

            Candles?

            Grease lamps?

            “Pine knots”?

            All have design history and heritage.

            “LIKE WHAT?”

            So... for ...like ...the CANDLE ‘survives’ as design form TODAY because... little known fact here for ...you and your low rent domestic design choices... of lighting... (your trashy tacky ‘ELECTRIC’ ‘LIGHTS’ that ...you... “LIKE”):  ‘Candle light’; the light given off by a burning candle... has... NEVER been ‘duplicated’ ‘by artificial means’.  So... therefore, remains a stand alone form of light that has... a subtle elegance... et al... including ‘subtle qualities’... et al

            Et al.

            Meaning... it is still ‘class’ (“good taste”) to ‘light candles’ and ‘have’ ‘candle light’.  So put your crummy electric lights out for recycling and light with candles?  “I work among genius”.

            OK BACK to spermaceti and lamp fonts... ‘full of it’.  Perhaps my dainty suggestions HAVE SUGGESTED  that ‘light’ from burning ‘whale oil’ was, in the old New England home, an ‘improvement’ that they ‘liked’.  BUT SOMEONE had to INVENT a ... ‘whale oil lamp’ and then MAKE THEM... and... ah...

            SELL THEM to

            THE GIRLS in the

            OLD NEW ENGLAND HOME.

            A whale oil lamp has THREE pieces of ‘glassware’ ‘in it’ ...in addition to the NOT MADE BY GLASSWARE MAKERS ‘burner arrangement’ ‘at the top’.  It had (has) ‘a base’... and ‘a font’... and a ‘glass wafer’ that joins the first two units together.  All made by glass... making...; the industry.  This glassmaking industry was the ‘they and they’; the glass blower made ‘the font’ and the men stomping pressed glass ‘made the base’.  These were joined by little boys with a ‘scrid’ or ‘wafer’ of ‘scrap glass’.  The ‘burner arrangement’ was ‘put on later’ in a whole other ‘factory’.

            “ARE WE THERE YET?”

            “No.”

            The glass blower ‘made’ the fonts by ‘free blown’ (generally) style with most minor blown molded inclusion too.. and even the ... cut glass – engraved glass... (done by a ‘glass cutter’ – ‘engraver’ – a ‘third’ artisan in the process) “TOO”.  The men in the back (includes rum ration) stomped on molten glass to... ah... well... let us say that these squared, stepped chunks of pressed clear glass are “CRUDE”.  The little boys hitched them together with the glass wafer.  For this last, I inform, that in antiquarian collector circles... that wafer MUST... BE... THERE (“wafer present”).  If it (any purported early New England whale oil lamp) does not have the wafer present... it – is – not – one.

            What is ‘one’.  It is ‘good taste’ of glassware... in the old New England home.  I have already told you all about this.  In Part Three I recorded:

            ...An ‘old’ ‘Sandwich Glass Whale Oil (glass) Lamp’

            That has been ‘electrified’ so has a ...light bulb... with a

            Cute little OLD shade on it....

            So I just keep my mouth shut.

            For several days until by some CHANCE

            I was alone in the room and She stepped by,

            Then stepped in... and...

            This is as close to erotic as old New England antiques get...:

            I was happening to be handling the lamp including the shade being off and it being plugged in and on and with the cord stringing off to the wall outlet and...

            She sees me and...

            I say ‘I like the old lamp’ and

            She says...

            “My grandmother gave that to me.”

            And we

            Just stood there naked before the whole universe of

            Glassware in the old New England home. 

            It’s that simple; the line in (New England shore front) sand.  That was and is the ‘first lamp’... in the old New England home.  First candles... then whale oil.   Then... ‘improvement in lighting fluids’ carried home by the ‘forget to mention’ ‘whales ran out’.  To restate:  Good taste in ‘lighting’ in the old New England home, includes (must include) AT LEAST an ‘understanding’ of the lighting history of an ‘in the old New England home... IF NOT actually including an ACTUAL (and very affordable) specimen... that may carry ‘apex’ grade good taste if that is ‘from my grandmother’ that SHE (or HER MOTHER) had ‘professionally’ (“OLD”) electrified that ....YOU... USE as a light in YOUR old New England home.  Or at least

            “FONES” (for old New England’s sake...)

            “Know about this”

            Including

            “WHEN YOU SEE IT.”

            That’s right:  If you don’t know an electrified New England glass whale oil lamp when you see one... from across the room... we (my old New England design eyed world) do not want to see... what you

            Do

            ...Have

            or... “know about” (“LIKE”)

            “For lighting”

            In the (your?) old New England home.