Carnival glass whimsies were made in the days when glass making was truly an art.  Skilled glass makers would take regular production line items such as tumblers, various sizes of bowls, plates, compotes, punch cups, baskets, vases or water pitchers and reshape them into a whimsy.  Probably the most commonly made whimsies were tumblers reshaped into  a hat-shape with a ruffled or Jack-in-the-Pulpit shape.  Sometimes a tumbler would be “swung” or drawn into the shape of a vase.  As a result, many of these whimsies are one-of-a-kind items in carnival glass.  If whimsies became popular with customers, they became part of the regular production line at the glass factories; others became a novelty item that many carnival glass collectors now search for so they can become part of their collection.

Don Kime, charter member of the Air Capital Carnival Glass Club, has a large collection of carnival glass tumblers and part of his collection includes many whimsies made from tumblers. Don has written a number of articles that appear in the “Articles” section of our web site.   To help visualize the making of a whimsy, we have made three animations showing how a tumbler could change shape from a tumbler to hat or a vase.

First, let’s start with the blue carnival glass Northwood Grape Arbor tumbler which is a regular production piece and shown in lower left photograph.   While the glass was still hot and malleable, the glassmaker used tools to reshape the top of the tumbler into ruffles as shown in middle photograph.  This type of whimsy is usually referred to a ruffled hat.  In the animation on the right we have tried to create the reshaping process so that you see the changes in the top of the tumbler as well as the exterior pattern.  Note at the top of the hat, the Grape Arbor pattern becomes a little distorted; but is it still easy to identify.

A second type of whimsy is a tumbler that has been made into a vase.   In the lower left photograph is a regular production marigold carnival glass Dugan Circle Scroll tumbler. In this case while the glass was still hot and malleable, the glassmaker “swung” the tumbler to stretch it into a vase as shown in the lower middle photograph.  Notice in the middle photograph the design of the Circle Scroll is elongated and somewhat distorted, but can still be identified as the Circle Scroll pattern.  In the animation we have tried to recreate the reshaping process so that you see the changes in the tumbler and the exterior pattern as it stretches into the final shape of a vase.

On lower left is a regular production green carnival glass Fenton Butterfly and Berry tumbler.  The vase in the middle photograph is a little different story. The vase still has the Butterfly and Berry pattern, but many times the pattern have become so stretched and distorted that it can be difficult to identify and sometimes even missed. Study both photographs and see if you identify the same part of the patten in each item.The animation on right will help you see the changes in the pattern as the tumbler stretches into the final shape of a vase.

For articles on Whimsies written by Don Kime go here.