Sassy Maz Glass

I love glass. I make pieces of art out of old second-hand glass. I source glass pieces from Op shops and Antique shops. I suppose you’d call it “Up-cycling”. I look for form, colour, patterns and then build or combine the pieces and glue them together. The “pieces” I look for are things like bowls, glass lampshades, vases, saucers, goblets, candleholders, anything that catches my eye. I learnt that there are many different types and styles of glass.

Carnival glass is moulded or pressed and it is given an iridescent surface shimmer to catch the light even in dark corners. It was used to brighten homes at a time when only the well-off could afford bright electric lighting. It was also called aurora glass, rainbow glass and “poor man’s Tiffany”. It dates from the beginning of the 19th century.

Fenton glass is known for its beautiful colours and patterns. The Fenton Art glass company was founded in 1905 in Williamstown (U.S.A) by brothers Frank and John Fenton. The company is no longer operating but you can still find them online and in Antique shops. As opposed to Carnival glass which was mass produced for a period in the 1920’s, each piece of Fenton glass is unique.

Cranberry glass or “Gold Ruby” is a red glass made by adding gold salts (colloidal gold) to molten glass. It is made in “craft production” rather than large quantities, due to the high cost of gold. It is believed a form of this glass was first made in the late Roman Empire. The craft was then lost and rediscovered in the 17th century. The most famous period of cranberry glass production was in 19th century Britain during the Victorian Era.

Depression glass is glassware made in the period 1929-1939, often clear or coloured translucent machine-made glassware that was distributed free or at low cost in the United States and Canada around the time of the Great Depression.

Art Deco glass is characterised by smooth lines, geometric shapes and bright colours. The movement began, in part, as a reaction against the elaborate and ornate style of Art Nouveau in the late 19th century. The Art Deco period stretched from 1910 to 1950. It regained popularity in the early 1970s.

And then there is a lot of glass with no name, but equally attractive, not to forget ...Crystal...

The Process

I use any of the above. I combine colour with clear or frosted glass and crystal.

All pieces are second-hand. It is a hobby that’s got out of hand. I can’t stop collecting glass and I can’t stop making them into pieces of art. I don’t have room for all of them, so I have to sell them. In order to keep them reasonably priced I use recycled glass, but in the mix there are some more expensive pieces like the types of glass I described above.

When I buy the glass, I buy it because I love it, it sings to me. I have no idea yet how I’m going to use it. I take it home and put it with my collection.

When I am going to make something, it can take an hour or more to choose the pieces I want to put together. I usually use 3 or 4 pieces for one of my creations, so that’s what I start with. In this process there is no glue involved, I stack them on top of one and other and hope they are not going to fall and break. Quite often I change one piece for another and another until I’m happy. I really kind of play with the glass, and quite often I end up having made 2 or 3 objects d’art!

If they don’t fit together exactly I can cut or grind the glass using my Dremel, a wonderful tool. You have to take extra care though, because it causes glass dust and glass shards to fly around. You don’t want that in your lungs or your eyes.

Then comes the process of gluing them together and that can be quite messy and stressful. It’s the least enjoyable task in the whole process, because it takes skill and precision, whilst having to work fast because the glue can go “off” in just a few minutes. If you stuff it up you’re really stuffed, because you can’t take it apart and start afresh, it’s STUCK or stuffed so to speak.

I hope you like my creations. One of them might catch your eye, or even sing to you!

They are all made in Rotorua and made with love by ...

Sassy Maz!