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Fenton
Art Glass, handcrafted in America for 100 years!
Today's lesson...
The A, B, C's of Cranberry. It's elementary!
 Cranberry
glass, an American tradition. To understand the artistry of
Cranberry glass, a Fenton signature color, one must begin at
the beginning, and learn your Cranberry A, B, C’s!
All
Cranberry pieces contain pure gold.
Baskets
in Cranberry take up to 25 glassworkers to produce.
Cranberry
pieces are all mouthblown, not pressed.
Decorated
Cranberry pieces, such as “Ivory Roses”, pass through
Decorating to be handpainted by a skilled Fenton decorator who
proudly signs each piece.
Each
Cranberry piece goes through the lehr, an annealing oven,
where it slowly cools to room temperature.
Fenton
glassworkers work as a team, or “shop”, in this case a blow
shop, to create each piece of Cranberry.
Gold
in the batch reacts with intense heat to create the beautiful
Cranberry color.
Handlers
mark each basket with their personal tool when they attach the
graceful arch that becomes the handle to each basket.
Ivory
Roses on Cranberry remains a popular decorated Cranberry
pattern in 2005.
Just
making Cranberry is an art, requiring skill and knowledge to
craft the formula from scratch.
Known
for Cranberry, Fenton has been producing it since the 1930’s.
Lots
of optics are used with Cranberry Opalescent such as Coin Dot,
Spiral, Zigzag and Diamond.
Magic
begins when a glassworker called a “caser” attaches a “bud” of
glass containing pure gold to a blowpipe. This is the start of
Cranberry!
No
overblow can remain on a piece. After the overblow is removed,
the piece is reheated and taken to the finisher. He skillfully
employs a carbon paddle to flare the top and another special
device to crimp the edge.
Other
glassworkers gather crystal over the bud, shape it by
“blocking” in soapy water, and gently expand the gob before
passing the blowpipe to a glassblower.
Paired
with crystal, the ruby roll is cased and blown into a mould to
create the main shape.
Quality
control is critical in all aspects of Cranberry production.
Ruby
glass in a roll, known as a ruby roll, which contains pure
gold, is the first step in making Cranberry.
Striking
is the technique used to create Cranberry Opalescent, which is
a heat-sensitive glass.
The
glassblower stands on a platform with the mould below his feet
and blows the molten glass into the mould to create the
desired shape.
Under
the watchful eye of the selector, each piece is reviewed for
quality as it as it leaves the lehr.
Various
shapes in Cranberry are the result of using different moulds
such as Hobnail or Drapery.
When
the Cranberry piece is removed from the mould it has a thin
crystal “overblow” that must be removed.
Xtra
-secret! We can’t reveal the Cranberry formula – it’s TOP
SECRET!
Years
of training are required to become a skilled glassworker.
Zigzag
is an optic mould while Zipper is a crimp, both of which have
been in produced in Cranberry.
To see additional Cranberry pieces offered by Fenton...
For all of your Fenton needs
shop online with an authorized Fenton dealer today, or
click here to find a dealer near you.
Fenton
Cranberry, it’s elementary. Now you know your Cranberry A, B,
C’s!
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