Saturday, February 26, 2011

Heisey glassware - a quick note on the legit mark

It is important when collecting or buying a collectible that one researches fakes and reproductions and become familiar with how to spot the real McCoy, in this case, though, it is the real Heisey.

As I prepare to list a single Heisey stemmed goblet tonight, I wanted to verify the H mark on the bottom is indeed a true Heisey mark. I visited the Heisey Glass Museum site and found this helpful tidbit on identifying.

The H is in a diamond - the reproductions make you believe it is an H in a diamond but it is actually a square on its side. The H on my glass is indeed a Heisey mark, when I turned it sideways my diamond did not form a square.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

A Few Decorating Techniques on Dinnerware

Dinnerware, be it for your own home or on restaurantware, often has a design on it. From a plain band to intricate designs, there are a few terms associated with the decorating process.

Hand Painted as implied, not as prevalent as in earlier years, often it takes years of training to make each piece almost identical. Brush stroke variations, color overlap and inconsistencies in line width and color depth are strong indicators that a piece is hand painted.

Lining and Banding can be done free hand but most often machine-applied now.

Airbrushing this technique became popularized in the 1940's, it is useful for band rims or accents. Stencil Airbrushing uses a stencil - also called "shadowtone".

Transfer Printing This is a neat pocess and common on older multi-colored pieces. Images are engraved onto a copper plate which a mixture of color and oil is then spread over the heated copper plate and this is worked into the engraving. Excess color is removed and then the designed is printed onto special paper which resembles a strong tissue-paper. Like a temporary tattoo, this piece of paper is placed on the piece and rubbed firmly. The paper is then soaked off and leaves behind the printed image. For multiple colors, it is basically layered on repeating the above for each color.

Direct Printing Like transfer printing, each layer of color must be applied separately in the following steps which are compared to an accurate form of rubber stamping. Soft silicone is used for the molded design and placed on a printing head. The head is then positioned on the piece, pressed down and leaves behind a single color design.

Decals applied by hand or machine, as the name implies, decals which are applied to the piece using various techniques.

For a more comprehensive in-depth definition with lots of great color photos, check out the Collector Books - Restaurant China Vol. I by Barbara J. Conroy.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

No snow in our forecast FINALLY

I finished this just this past weekend, we had a forecast of snow into Wednesday and another batch Thursday to Friday but we were spared! I started this after the first fall, coincidence?

Of course it is!


My next project is 1/4 of the way done, may be completed by this weekend.

We hit a local thrift shop today, I was very good, we donated a cart full of boxes and I left with less than 10 items for eBay. Not that I don't have thousands of items waiting to be listed already (not an exaggeration) but I do LOVE the hunt!