ACCGC 2006 CONVENTION SEMINAR
KARG ART GLASS STUDIO

Article by Ron Britt
Photos by Jerry Kudlac and Ron Britt

      The 2006 ACCGC Convention had many excellent highlights with the Seminars, Banquet Speaker, Auctions, and great food.  This article will cover only the Convention Seminar held at the Karg Art Glass Studios, in Kechi, Kansas on October 12, 2006
     When we began the planning process for the 2006 Convention Seminars, it was suggested that a visit to a local Glass Studio might be of interest and educational for those attending.  I had visited the Karg Art Glass Studio several times in the past since Glass Blowing was my hobby in the late 70’s and early 80’s and therefore had some knowledge about the Free Blown Glass process including iridizing.  At the time of the initial contacts with the Karg Glass Studio this was to be a TOUR and to observe the Glass Blowers as they developed their Free Blown Glass pieces.

                                                     Rollin Karg of Kart Art Glass Studios
Rollin Karg studied hot glass at Emporia State University, commuting from Wichita while building his first furnace.  He worked at CESSNA Aircraft in the early 60’s as an Industrial Engineer.  He originally came to Wichita to attend Wichita State University on a football scholarship.  His birthplace was Columbus, Ohio.

 In August 2006 on the wwwcga website member mailing list there began a “discussion” of whether there was the possibility of someone changing “old” Carnival Bowls into Plates and to obtain higher prices for rarer items.  There were “strong” opinions on both sides of the issue which continued for a period of time in the daily wwwcga mailing list.
     I thought, wouldn’t it be interesting to conduct an experiment during the ACCGC to see if a bowl could be turned into a plate and not shatter during the process of heating it up or cooling down.  So I discussed this with Rollin Karg, who is also an Industrial Engineer and later in life a successful Glass Blowing Studio Owner and operator.  Rollin thought it could be done and agreed to try such an experiment if time allowed.  There wasn’t much time before our upcoming early October Convention and Rollin had Art Glass shows to get ready for.
     Next I purchased a group of several inexpensive small late Carnival bowls to start out with.  Those were delivered to Rollin about 3 weeks before the Convention.  A week later I contacted Rollin and he stated they had success turning one of the small bowls into a plate.  The iridescence was pretty well burned off however and a pontil mark was obviously present.  
    Then I needed to provide a larger Bowl with a more definite pattern for the Convention Seminar experiment.  I selected a marigold Diamond Lace Bowl from our collection for the experiment.  

Free Blown Glass vs. Molded Glass

     The Free Blown Glass process is different from Molded Glass process as most collectors are aware.  
With Free Blown Glass, the approximate 2000 F Molten Glass is in a Furnace Pot where it is gathered on either a Punty Rod to make paperweights or on a Blow pipe to develop into Bowls, Plates, Vases, etc. The punty rod will have had a very small portion of molten glass on the end ready to “stick” it to the center of the end of the Free Blown glass piece.  .  Once the piece is in it’s final shape, the connection of the punty rod to the glass piece is now “scored” with a wet file.  The punty rod is then “tapped” with the final piece captured generally by a companion glass blower with Asbestos gloves.  Then the glass (which is over 1000F) is placed in an annealing oven to bring it down over a period of 8 or more hours depending upon the mass of glass involved.
      In Molded glass, like Carnival, there is generally no punty rod attachment with molten glass that would leave a pontil mark on the bottom of the Carnival piece.  The tool used instead was a “SNAP” that would grip the collar or marie of the piece.  I have searched the internet for Glass Blowing equipment suppliers and so far have not been able to come up with a picture of a SNAP to better illustrate how it would replace the punty rod.  There would generally be only one mold for a certain piece of carnival.  Probably a bowl shaped mold to start out with.  The edge treatment would then occur by going back to a Glory Hole and reheating the piece and then with secondary shaping tools make it into either “ruffle”, “3-in-1”,  “pie crust”,  “candy ribbon” edges.  Or after picking up the bowl piece with the SNAP… return it to the Glory hole and rotate the piece until the centrifugal force turns the bowl into a plate.
     The following pictures illustrate the steps and results on the heating and reshaping of both the small carnival glass bowls and larger Carnival Glass Diamond Lace Bowl.

                                                                       Small Bowl Experiment

The following are pictures PIC #1 and PIC #2 on the series of small bowls illustrating the pattern and iridescence.  They are of later vintage in the carnival glass production I believe.

The next picture (PIC #6) is of Scott Gamble who is employed at Karg Art Glass Studios.  Scott is gathering a small amount of molten glass on a punty rod which will pick up the bowl from the annealing oven.  The following picture (PIC #7) is of the small bowl in the annealing oven at a temperature of approximately 975F.  A torch flame is being applied to the bottom of the bowl to further heat the center where the punty will make it’s attachment.  In Carnival Glass a special punty rod called a “SNAP” would have been used to grip the collar of the bowl.

   Once the small Bowl is picked up by the Punty Rod it is taken to the Glory Hole for bringing it up to a higher temperature for further reshaping.  PIC #8 shows Scott Gamble performing that task.  PIC #9 shows Scott using a wet paddle to keep the bowl true with the punty rod so that it doesn’t wobble in the glory hole and create an out of round bowl.

Picture PIC #10 illustrates how by turning the bowl on the punty rod inside the Glory hole, the centrifugal force of the mass of the glass begins reshaping it into a plate.  PIC #11 shows that the Bowl is now turned into the shape of a plate.  Scott Gamble is using a wet file to apply drops of water on the connection of the punty rod to the plate.  Then he will score the connection of the punty rod to the plate with a wet file.

After “scoring” the connection between the punty rod and the Plate, a helper with Asbestos gloves holds the plate while Scott  lightly “taps” the punty rod.  This will break free the plate from the rod.  See PIC #12.  The plate is then placed in an annealing oven with a temperature control to lower the temperature over an extended period of time to prevent any internal stresses causing the piece to crack or break in pieces.  See PIC #13.

After an over night annealing process the results are ready to come out of the oven.  See pictures (PIC #14)  and  (PIC #15) below.  I will summarize both the small and large bowl experiments at the end of the Article.

Large Diamond Lace Bowl Experiment

     Below in PIC #4 and PIC #5 illustrate the marigold Diamond Lace Bowl that was used in this part of the experiment.

     PIC #3L shows the bottom of the Diamond Lace Bowl being further heated in the annealing oven to accept the Punty Rod with molten glass on the end.  PIC #4L shows the Bowl with the Punty rod attached and Scott Gamble using a wet paddle to straighten the bowl before going into the glory hole.

       PIC #5L shows the Diamond Lace Bowl on it’s way to the Glory hole to be further heated over several trips to achieve the end result.   PIC #6L shows the Bowl in the Glory Hole being brought up to temperature enough to work it into a plate.

      PIC #7L shows Scott Gamble truing up the Bowl so that it does not wobble in the Glory Hole.  PIC #8L now shows the Bowl being rotated such that the centrifugal force causes the Bowl to open up into the shape of a plate.

      PIC #9L illustrates how Scott again is centering and truing up the plate on the punty rod.  I would believe that in the working of a Carnival Glass Bowl with a SNAP tool that this would not be necessary as the collar is big enough that the piece would remain centered and true.   PIC #10L shows the end result of the Diamond Lace Bowl (still hot) being converted from a bowl into a plate.

     PIC #11L is showing Scott Gamble applying water to the connection of the punty rod to the plate ready to break the connection between the two.   PIC #12L  shows a helper holding the plate while Scott “taps” the punty rod breaking the connection between the plate and punty rod.

      PIC #3INTRO  shows Rollin Karg standing next to an annealing oven where hot glass is placed to bring it down to room temperature over an extended period of time.  The Diamond Lace Bowl went into the annealing oven on Thursday mid afternoon and came out on early Saturday morning.  There are many pieces of glass that go into an annealing oven and generally the largest mass of glass is what determines when to bring the glass out.  Quite probably the Diamond Lace piece could have come out on Friday if it was not with other larger pieces.

     PIC #13L  and  PIC #14L  show the end result of the Diamond Lace Bowl successfully reheated and reworked into another shape and then annealed over time to have it successfully come out without breaking into pieces.

Note: PIC13L was taken with a flash and PIC14L was taken with a different camera under 5000K fluorescent lights; therefore the iridescence does not appear the same. All photographs are original and have not been enhanced. For a larger view of PIC14L, click on the photo.

Summary

     First lets address the fact that if you have purchased any of Terry Crider’s tumblers.... look on the bottom and you will find that most have a pontil mark.  Terry probably purchased blanks which he would have brought up to temperature (as was illustrated in the above experiments), did any post shaping of the piece, and then iridized as the last step before placing it into an annealing oven.  We have some of his pieces and it is pretty easy to tell that they are of a newer iridescence effect.  That would be true of most of Robert Hansen’s pieces also.  It isn’t to say that the iridescence is of lesser quality… just that it is different from the old Carnival “look”.

      KARG & ACCGC BOWL TO PLATE EXPERIMENT 2006:    If you have followed thru the above long process it becomes clear on how a piece of glass can be brought back up to temperature and reworked into a new shape at an elevated temperature… and then cooled in an annealing oven back to room temperature successfully.
       This is step one in a process of experimenting and educating ourselves in the world of glass on this particular subject. Is someone making iridized plates out of iridized bowls?
      You must disregard the pontil mark as that was the only way Rollin Karg could conduct the experiment since he is unfamiliar with a SNAP tool and doesn’t need one in his Free Hand Glass Blowing. Possibly someone has a source at Fenton or other Glass molder who can help us out on this tool. I have not had the opportunity to tour the Fenton factory so have not seen or taken a picture of such a tool. I have made numerous contacts with Manufacturers of Glass Blowing/Making tools on the internet and have been unsuccessful in anyone providing any insight to such a tool. There would be certain precautions that the SNAP tool be warm enough not to damage or crack the glass base collar yet not anneal or modify the steel SNAP tool grippers.
     It was expected that the iridescence would be affected since you are working the glass brought back up to near the approximate 2000F temperature for the reshaping. Iridescence is generally applied at a lower temperature and as one of the last steps before going into the annealing oven. That is partially what makes the difference between Radium and Matt finish iridescence…. dependent upon the temperature of the piece being iridized. That isn’t to say you couldn’t re-iridize the piece before placing in the annealing oven. You see in the results on the Diamond Lace piece that there was residual iridescence. The question is what would it look like with a secondary application of “dope” that may have a different mixture of Ferric Chloride than the original. Or you might use Stannous Chloride or a mixture of both to obtain the desired results. Would additional “doping” make a difference in the final results? Experimentation is the next step.
So where from here? If there are Carnival Glass Clubs near the Fenton Factory…. possibly they could encourage Fenton to do an experiment for an Eastern USA Club Convention. Fenton has all the tools and doping materials to do the necessary experimentation.
      If that isn’t possible…. Maybe we can talk Rollin into more experimentation for our next ACCGC Convention??? But we would need some glass from you collectors to experiment with. Possibly if you have a certain piece that is in question, you might contribute a sample for any future experiments. Then I could contact Rollin again to see if he is willing to experiment further and if his iridizing booth can handle the size.
     I hope this Experiment has been educational and has answered some of the questions raised.

About your Article author: Ron is a graduate Mechanical Engineer from Wichita State University in about the same time period as Rollin. Ron continued on with his day job, but had a fascination and passion for glass. Judy was collecting Carnival Glass. Ron was collecting old iridized Art Glass Shades. In the late 1970’s Ron took lessons on glassblowing from Doug Sweet in a Glass Blowing Studio in Enon, Oh between Dayton and Springfield. Glass Blowing dominated Ron’s weekends for approximately 5 years learning how to duplicate the processes and techniques and iridescence effects of the old masters.