Richard P. Goldings

Okra & Station Glass

From

www.Abfabglass.co.uk

Email abfabglass@aol.com

Tele 01189 326818

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The Portland vase project

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Richards Bi-og

Ian Dury of Stourbridge Glass Engravers is sponsoring an exciting project at Ruskin Glass Centre, Stourbridge as part of the run up to the 400th celebrations of glassmaking in Stourbridge in 2012. The Portland Vase will be recreated in Stourbridge.

Richard has been asked to recreate the Portland Vase blank.This will be done by Richard and a team of glassmakers at the Ruskin Glass Centre, Stourbridge on Saturday 24th September. The blank will then be handed to Terri Colledge, one of the best cameo engravers working today, to carve the vase. This will take many, many hours and Terri aims to complete it during the Glass Bienalle in August 2012.

Richard and Merlyn Farwell of PyElectronics have been experimenting with glass recipes in Merlyn's workshop using a tiny version

of the COMBO furnace developed by Merlyn for Station Glass. Richard is renowned for his glass recipes and this project has seen him poring over his old "recipe books" to fine tune a batch mix that will get as close as possible to the original. Plowden and Thompson and Gerald Mann of Industrial Mineral Services are helping by sponsoring the batch materials and mixing.
 

Richard, Terri and Ian met Dr . Paul Roberts, a curator from the British Museum, early on the 24th August to discuss the project and examine the Portland Vase in detail. None of them can get over the honour of being able to hold such an iconic piece of glass history.

Several things surprised Richard, causing him to rethink how he will make the blanks. The rim is folded and the detail of carving around the handles means that they can be made differently. The actual colour is interesting - a very dark cobalt blue which looks totally different with a light behind it. Paul is the co-author of a fascinating book " Cameo Roman Glass in the British Museum" which gives a technical insight into how the Portland Vase and it`s lesser known "sister" piece, the Auldjo Jug was made. Details of Paul`s book are available from -

http://www.oxbowbooks.com/bookinfo.cfm/ID/86917//Location/Oxbow

True to form, once Richard and Terri saw the Auldjo jug (pictured on the right) they fell in love and decided that they had to recreate that too.  All being well, a blank will be made after the Portland blanks are blown on the 24th September.

The Portland Vase Project

The Very Start of the Project

Terri and Richard Working it Out

Testing the Batch at Merlyn`s

Testing the Colour

Testing the Batch at Merlyn`s

A Perfect Blank

The Team Gathers

The Portland Vase

One of Richard`s Recipe Books

The Auldjo Jug

Amazing - Can we Recreate

it by August 2012?

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