Old New England Glassware in the Home - Part Seventeen - "The Demon Sister"

Old New England Glassware in the Home

Part Seventeen

"The Demon Sister

            Am I going to begin again with the ‘glassware’ harping?   Are we going the ‘stagger along’ with rum ration men-of-back-rooms and their ‘pressing glass... ware?  Are we, really, today, the abomination of that pressing glass?  Did we decline

            Our fine

            Design.

            “ISN’T THAT PRETTY!”

            Does not describe what happened next when

            The rum ration men

            In the backroom

            Pressed

            The molten metal glass

            Into ware (where?).

            Handsome she... did not quite say for it was then not proper to address

            Glassware

            As “Handsome”

            Particularly if it is on the shelf

            For sale

            In a store

            Window.

            “A MAN IN A CART brought THOSE TO MY MOTHER’S

            Mother’s

            Mother

            It has always been said

            Since I can remember

            Being told that I should

            Never, ever

            Break them”.

            “I was only four years old and couldn’t even reach that shelf.

            And I never have... ever... broken one.

            MY SISTER THOUGH; she was a little demon.  After church, you see

            She found the cupboard’s KEY.

            ‘WATER for WINE’ we shared

            Until it smashed and we were both

            Quite scared.

            But it was twenty years before that truth was told.

            No one ever used them for, they said

            “They are too old”.”

            “Cupboard keeping safe therein

            With only seven

the deadly sin.

            The pieces of the number eight

            Were hidden in a heating grate.

            This my demon sister to me said

            In a whisper when we were

Tucked in bed.”

            When the old woman at the holiday church sale ‘cleaned your clock’ (Part Fifteen) of  old New England glassware in the home... what does that mean... really?  If the broken glassware ‘number eight’ ...is hidden in the heating grate... undiscovered because its fellows are ‘too old’... no one ever notices... what happened... to the old New England glassware... in the home?

            Well, first, the men of pressing glassware ‘invented’ ‘them’; the glassware in the cupboard... that came from a store window.... or a man in the yard in a cart.  THESE glasswares had never been seen before by ...’never held such fine’ glassware   In my hands’.  “My eye cannot explain the feel but my hands cannot see the brilliance and I am just a cupboard girl; a woman with a dining table... if only I could afford; be able...

            Then I would too

            This finery.”

            And that did happen... right along.

            The men of pressing glassware did ‘make’ ‘that’.  FIRST they discerned the management of the metal was better if the iota made was bigger.  The mold clarity was better and ‘managed (accommodated) the hot metal’ better.  THIS was ‘carried through’ by managing the design of the molded glassware so that the decoration upon the design, although bold, was also streamlined in the larger format to purvey a ‘better finish’ of the hot metal... pressed... in a mold.  THAT TOO; this decoration, was, TOO, ‘in the (popular current trend) style’ of...

            OUR old friend Josephine and Empire style etiquette (Part  Eleven).  I

            Did not think we would come back?  To this.  To this as a “that” the our eyes may see too in this improved ‘old New England glassware’.  But one can see it.  In fact, one ‘cannot miss it’; that ‘Empire style’  in this ‘clean’ ‘brilliant’... “handsome”  glassware.

            Besides being glass metal pressed and... of Empire style... there are three additional features.  (1) The need-to-be hand finished by a trained glass metal craftsperson (no women but little boys are fine). (2) The need to be of proper form (shape) and scale (size)... of the (as a) intentional (planned; designed) vessel ... and:  (3) The need to... function (“work”) well; very well... for... this glassware

            Was used.

            With the quality improvements of the... clear glass... metal, the mold craft developments and the audacity that a man felt he could... now... ‘control’ the pressing process... released a new glassware design today collectors titled “EAPG”; early American pressed glass (ware).  This glassware is (1) what the ‘clean your clock’ woman expressed by action when she clutched two of the goblets I was buying and... (2) what she expressed when she spoke directly of her preference for the ‘older patterns’.  It is these ‘older’ (‘early’) that I tend and present to the reader right now.

Returning to Empire style... first.. I request the observation, by one’s eye, of that style to notice that it is... presented to the design observing eye... best... through its ...heavy handed... rolling bold curves-into-bold-curves that define ‘Empire’ style’s visual ‘presence’.  For example, at the top of a dining table (water) pitcher; above the press molded ‘bold’ ‘Empire Style’ pattern... such as the New England classic ‘sawtooth’; a bold and large raised-diamonds of glittering hedgehog point swirl... one’s eye ...cannot fail to notice... the ...hand finished by a glassware craftsman... bold and rolling top edge curves from spout tip to the handle and... then that this thick warping handle TOO rises and curves back and down in an aggressive continuation of this... bold... curving... ‘line’... ‘in space’.  Too much art?  Go sit down and rest.  As a design art test this notice-by-eye, as a one to ten... is a ONE of “BASIC”.  Meaning, like, for me... “at forty feet”... I ‘see’ ‘that’.**, ***

So that is what ‘Empire Style’ brings to this;  Bold curves into curves on a ‘whole object’ scale.  Below that we did notice that there is TOO a bold... molded glass pattern that too... follows then current fashion and WAS VERY POPULAR (if not a ‘most popular’; this ‘sawtooth’) “old New England” style...:  “Pattern”... of “EAPG”.  But this pattern... too... is noticed to be a very radical departure in style from the earlier ‘Lacy Period’ patterns.  And in scale too.  That is... this pattern is a whole different ‘design presence’ to the eye.  And that the creation of this whole ‘innovative’ form is done by several men-at-work.  It did not ‘just happen’.  A room full of men... designed and ‘made that’... dining table water pitcher.

“You’ve SEEN THOSE”; dining table water pitchers... before?”

“Oh you TRASH!”

Prove that?  (that you are trash)?

            Like... when you, to this moment... ‘look at’ a ‘water pitcher’ on a dining table... you... like... ‘know what it is?’.  I mean this as the ‘I really know?’.  You do?

            I doubt it.

You went to your sister-in-law’s “DINNER PARTY” and, like, ‘totally blew off’ her dining table glassware... including the requisite ‘water pitcher’... in ONE faux-fashion-quick... glance... and like:

            Doing that was OK for ...her glassware is... crud... anyway.

            ?

            I am just really tired of this faux “I KNOW” set.  You don’t

            KNOW

            About old New England glassware ON THE DINING TABLE... of the old New England home.  Quit saying ‘it’s nice’ and

            LOOK AT IT with the eye of an informed grown up  (adult) and SHUT-UP about the abyss of design disaster you ‘discern’ from ...doing that... and GO HOME to your...

“I am doing something about this (me looking like a glassware twit ball – of an - on my dining table... ass):  I am...  doing something about my ‘bad’ ‘old’ ‘glass’... ware.

            (“Where?”)

 

            Let us look at the anti-glassware... on the dining table... at your sister-in-law’s:  THAT THERE: her... water pitcher:

            Now I ‘see’ the damn thing with it’s... “yeah” free blown... rib molded ... STYLE that simply conceals...through master modern molding and... glass metal manipulation... that it is actually almost all ‘mold made’ to ‘look like’ ‘free blown’ but that is incidental when one includes the notice of the stupid little painted floral cartouche on the ‘outside’ added to FURTHER conceal the ‘mold made’ process.  It has a footed base... there by raising a FULL PITCHER OF WATER up to a better ‘it can tip over’ height’ so SUGGESTS strongly that ...all along the line of this pitcher’s DESIGN and FABRICATION and ACTUAL USAGE... nobody... at all... ever ‘actually USED this and this... THIS (“not used”) is slammed home to

             MY EYE by the always useful when looking over modern interruption of classic design... the word “Pinched”.  Pinched is a nice way of saying something that is supposed to convey that it “WORKS” as, like, here with this full-of-water-on-pedestal-base and HAND FINISHED by a ... MODERN... ‘glass metal craftsman... who too “never uses one”**** (a dining table water pitcher) (but “has seen them” on the table) (Get it?  SEE is different from FUNCTION [work])....

---

**** :  Today... water is not poured from pitchers... a glass is ‘filled’ from ‘a tap’.  Pitcher usage declined as ‘well water’ ‘fetched’ declined.

            But DOES here hand finish a pouring spout that... to even the most limited design eye easily is denoted to be

            PINCHED; too small and short to allow the flow (pour) of ‘enough’ water at any time to be anything other than a lift legged doggie peeing on a fire hydrant...:  YES pouring a ‘glass of water ‘from that’ pitcher WILL TAKE FORTY minutes ‘at table’.

            This... vast modern design concept; ‘pinched’ (meaning ‘on the street’ it “Does not Work”) is RAMPANT in glassware on the ... “my sister-in-law” set of “ENTERTAINING”.  So just go get your “WATER PITCHER” that you ...don’t know what it is... and try lifting it up full of water and pouring MANY glasses of ... with it.  When your wrist hurts say ‘pinched’.

            Your there.

            You made it..

            Your dining table water pitcher you use for entertaining is now ready to be

            Recycled

I, the (old New England glassware in the home) demon sister

            Whisper to you

‘At table’..

---

**  One’s eye, at distance, will discern that ‘Empire’ is very found in the English Staffordshire of this period.  Rolling curves into rolling curves ... in sugar bowls, creamers and teapots (a tea service) will scream at the awakened eye.  The... popular... deep blue colored transferware...:  Yes it is all a bit flamboyant for the English?  Yes.  “Suitable for the American (New England) market” they (the English) felt.  And they were, commercially, ‘dead on’... to this day.

***: In actual practice, the ‘Empire Style’ is most often  a more ‘hidden’ or ‘suggested’ style infusion.  For example, in smaller glassware-tableware, the whole object is of subtle ‘Empire’ form with the direct ‘curve into curve’ found, for example, where a ‘top’ meets the ‘base’: There at this ‘join’.. is a moment of raw ‘OG’ [Empire style].  I have used the very blatant water pitcher curves to get the ‘show the eye’ job done.  Empire is actually subtle in its ‘general usage’.  And... surprising  to the pedantic sophisticate... may be ‘understated’.  Anticipating the historic whoredom of Victorian style... through the vaguely understood ‘Transitional (Empire-Victorian) Style’, Empire is actually a ‘moving’ (changing) style that implodes itself as Victorian Gothic, et al... stream toward the Civil War and ... the impact of ‘industrial’ dominance (the no more ‘handmade’).  Empire, please understand, is the ‘last’ ‘handmade’ ‘style’.