Glass
Northern Art Glass stocks over 350 different styles, colours, and textures of stained and decorative clear glass. We have access to more than 2000 other glass varieties that we will be pleased to order for you. We carry glass made by the following companies: Spectrum (Washington), Bullseye and Uroborus (Oregon), Armstrong (Georgia), Youghiogheny (Pennsylvania), Kokomo (Indiana), Wissmach (West Virginia), Wasser (Florida), Fremont (Washington), Pilkington (UK), Vegla, Desag and Glaverbel (Germany), Krosno (Poland) and St. Just (France). Other specific types come from Italy, Korea and China. Check out the glass links below.
Stained glass is sold by the square foot. Clear textured varieties, like Glu-chip, start at $3.95 /sq. ft. Coloured cathedrals and opalescents start at $6.95 /sq. ft. The sheets come in various sizes but you can buy as much or as little as you like. Scrap glass pieces are sold at $1.50 /lb. and we always have lots of sale glass in our Bargain Bin.
Stained glass has become a generic term for coloured glass in general. The colour is formed throughout the glass, during the manufacturing process. It is not applied to the surface and will not wear off or fade. The basic ingredients for all glass are silica sand, soda ash and limestone. Various metal oxides and minerals are added to colour the batch:
Blues - cobalt and chromium
Turquoise blue – add copper
Greens - iron oxide and chromium
Greens and Golds - copper oxides
Purples - manganese and cobalt
Red and orange – selenium
Yellows – Cadmium and sulphur
Brilliant ruby reds and deep pinks - actual gold dust in suspension to reflect light. Naturally this glass is somewhat more expensive than other colours.
Most coloured glass is machine-made in a factory. Cathedral glass is the term for transparent colours. Opague glass is known as Opalescent. The development of this type of glass is credited to Louis C. Tiffany and John LaFarge. Hot glass is laddled onto a conveyer belt. It passes through rollers that flatten it to a uniform thickness. These rollers may be smooth or textured to imprint a patterned finish on the glass. There are dozens of different textures available. The hot glass passes through a number of annealers and comes out the other end ready to be cut and crated. Streakies have two or more transparent colours. Whispy glass is part transparent and part opague. There are many variations of multicoloured and semi-opaque opalescents as well.
Antique glass is one of the most prized glass. It is blown glass made by the antique method. This method goes back more than 1000 years. A wide range of rich transparent colours are available. Most church windows, new and old, are fabricated with this glass. This is a labour intensive process and thus more expensive than cathedral glass. Most antique glass is European in origin, however, there are a couple of American firms, like Fremont in Seattle, that produce exceptional glass. Irridescent and Dichroic finishes are factory produced surface applications and are available in a wide range of glass colours and styles.
Northern Art Glass also offers glue-chip, mirror, clear window glass in 2-3mm thickness and float glass up to 18mm thick, clean cut, polished or beveled. Thermal panes and sandblasted glass are also available. We handle a big selection of specialty glass for fusing in both 90 C.O.E. and System 96 and Effectre (Murrini) rods for the beadmaker with a C.O.E. of 104. See the Warm Glass section for more information.
GLASS COMPANIES:
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www.spectrumglass.com |
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www.uroboros.com |
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www.bullseye-glass.com |
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www.youghioghenyglass.com |
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www.armstrongglass.com |
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www.wissmachglass.com |
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www.kog.com |
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www.chicagoartglass.com |
| Fremont Antique Glass | 3614 2nd Ave. N.W. Seattle, WA 98107 (206) 633-2253 |