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Hello to all, and welcome to my glass pages.
I am an avid of collector of Art Glass and other molded glass items. My main collection is of Slag Glass. I have amassed approximately 200 differrent pieces of this type of decorative glass. Some dating back to the late 1800's and other more recent items that were made in the 50's, 60's and 70's. Some of my Slag Glass items were made in England and the majority of what I have collected are from American glass houses. Below are a few pictures of Caramel, Ruby and Purple Slag glass items that I have collected. Many of these items are from the Imperial Glass Company and were created in the 1960's. Other piece's are from Challenor Taylor dating to the 1880's, as this company burnt to the ground and never rebuilt. I also am showing a few piece's from Davidson Glass. I also have collected over the years quite a bit of Fenton Glass. Ranging from Limited Edition items, special Editions and also some rather rare pieces. My favorite from Fenton are their Rosalene piece's that are pink and white marbling, that is the effect that comes out when the mixture has real gold in it with the silica sand and other chemical compounds that were used and then heated to the correct temperature. I also have alot of Carnival Glass, Milk Glass and various other types of glass that I fancy. From window glass and simple green glass bottles to the sophisticated art glass of today, more than 500 factories have manufactured glass in West Virginia throughout the state’s history. West Virginia was attractive to glass manufacturers because it offered great quantities of silica sand, stone and other chemical compounds necessary to produce glass and vast reserves of natural gas for fuel. This paired with the state’s network of rivers and railroads for the transportation of raw materials to factories and finished wares to customers made West Virginia an ideal location to spawn the glass industry.
I intend to add pages to this area of my website as time goes on I will also try to give a brief history or some back ground on the various types of glass that I will be showing here.
Purple slag glass came to the United States from England in the 1880s, probably brought by immigrant glass men or by Americans returning home from apprenticing there. This variegated glass was as popular here as with the English, coming at a time when the demand for decorative colored glass was high. Slag ware appealed aesthetically and was affordable. Production here spanned the years from the mid-1800s to about 1907. Today, this richly colored glass and its English counterparts are eagerly sought by collectors all over the country. Belknap identified three kinds of slag glass: the open-mix with colors distinctly separate; the fused-mix where they are well blended with no great splotches of either color and the over-mix characterized by shades of purple with little white. The three largest American producers of slag glass were the Atterbury & Co., Challinor, Taylor & Co. and the H. Northwood Glass Co. The Atterbury "White House Factory," so called because of its large output of quality "opal ware," was founded in Pittsburgh in 1859 and closed in 1894. In addition to opal (milk glass), Atterbury was acclaimed for its lamps, shades and chimneys which won an award at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition. The company also was highly regarded for the fine quality of its tableware and the wide variety of ware it made in opaque glass of blue, green, lavender and marbled colors. Much Atterbury slag glass, incorrectly attributed in the past, is being recognized as more information comes to light. Other identified Atterbury patterns include Raindrop, Dart Bar, Basketweave, the Jewel celery and an Acanthus bowl that Ferson calls part of the Melon with Net pattern group. 
David Challinor began operations in Pittsburgh in 1864 and some 20 years later moved to a site in Tarentum along the Allegheny. At that time he took a partner, David Taylor, whose interest was strictly financial. In 1891, Challinor, Taylor and Co., operating as the Standard Glass Works, became part of the U.S. Glass Co. combine. Shortly after, the plant was completely destroyed by fire and was not rebuilt. David Challinor used the term "Mosaic" for his slag glass, as did Northwood. To further confuse the names, some Challinor ads refer to it as "Variegated Glassware." Challinor was critical of the term "slag" because of its association with the refuse from iron smelting. He insisted that this glass was the product of a well conceived and carefully mixed formula. In fact, the only patent Challinor obtained, in 1886, was for the manufacture of mosaic glass. His technique was to prepare separate pots of opal and amethyst, heat each to the correct temperature, then mix the two together by careful stirring. The pot was reheated to just the proper temperature and consistency. Only then could the men begin to work with it. Challinor Taylor was the acknowledged leader in the making of slag glass. The consistently high quality of their glass is testimony to the care with which it was made. Challinor designs on record include Oval Sett or Oval Medallion, Fan and Star, Flute or Majestic Crown, Dewdrop and Zigzag, Flower and Panel and Mitered Dewdrop. 
The Northwood Co. operated in Ohio and Pennsylvania from 1888 - 1899 when it joined the National Glass Co. combine. In 1902, Harry Northwood redesigned and, with Thomas Dugan, bought the old Hobbs Brockunier plant in Wheeling which had stood empty since Hobbs closed in 1893. Almost immediately production of mosaic glass began. Mosaic was never an easy glass to work. Breakage was high. Frequently there was difficulty in getting the two colors to adhere. Often one finds a fracture where the two colors have separated. This might happen if the two colors did not cool at the same rate. Northwood always had problems with its mosaic glass. At one point there was so much breakage that heated meetings were held with the union to determine who would be responsible for the cost. The difficulty was possibly with the procedure used. Either opal or clam-broth, a translucent grayish glass, in the form of cold cullet was added to the pot of amethyst. This sounds almost casual when compared to the precise attention Challinor lavished on all aspects of purple slag production, but it does explain the translucence of much Northwood slag, when slag is considered an opaque glass. The translucent pieces probably made from the amethyst and clambroth mix. Researchers have suggested that Northwood's output was limited to a few months because of the production problems. A 1903 Butler Brothers catalog shows an assortment of this ware. Written by Patricia McCulley 
The Imperial Glass Company was established in 1901 by an ex-riverboat captain and experienced glassmaker Edward Muhleman, although they didn't begin producing the iridescent Carnival glass for which they became best known until 1909. In the early days of its formation it made pressed glass as was the fashion of the day, glasses, compotes, bowls, and other household tableware and accessories. In 1904, Imperial moved into a new facility on the river in Bellaire, Ohio, already a center of American glassmaking. When they began making Carnival glass, it immediately became their most popular production line and it was produced in huge quantities for middle America and beyond. Imperial was closely identified with more sculptural and geometric forms than contemporaries like Fenton and Northwood, who became better known for evoking nature through grapes, leaves, and other natural shapes. Imperial produced a much wider variety of glass than simply Carnival glass however, although they always made more utilitarian pieces than their contemporaries and as such bring in general slightly lower prices in today's market. They produced new colors such as "smoke", a light bluish-grey color, and "clambroth", much the color of ginger ale, and they produced marigold glass in huge quantities. In their Carnival glass lines, they were particularly well known for the rich iridescence of their pieces and especially their purple glass which was much less commonly found from other manufacturers. Many of the staffers at Imperial were German and Bohemian craftsmen who had been influenced and skilled in the work of Austrian and Bohemian producers of the period such as Loetz, and they sought to bring ever more highly skilled techniques to Imperial production. They produced almost the total spectrum of American glass styles of the era including slag glass, stretch glass, opalescent glass, milk glass, black glass, and novelty glass animals. Imperial was more successful than most other American manufacturer's of Carnival glass in exporting to Europe, and they continued to operate through the depression years of the 1930s in producing a cheaper range of green, pink, and blue Depression Glass from earlier Imperial Glass molds. Imperial stayed in business through the years of World War II and even began producing reproduction Carnival glass in the 1960s as collector interest began to be revived. They also acquired other struggling but formerly well known glass companies including A. H. Heisey in 1958 and Cambridge Glass Works in 1960. Using the old molds, Imperial continued to produce Heisey and Cambridge designs marketed as Heisey or Cambridge "by Imperial." Lenox bought the company in 1973, beginning a period of decline until finally ceasing operations in 1983 
End-of-day Glass from the Glass Encyclopedia Discussion of End-of-day Glass: "End of day" glass was any item made by the glassworkers in their own time at the end of the day using up the remaining molten glass in the pots. It therefore tended to be a mixture of all sorts of colors. Another name for the same kind of item was a "frigger". Sometimes these were fun items, like walking sticks or animals made of glass. Sometimes they were items for the glassworkers own home; and sometimes they were for sale. In some parts of Britain (Nailsea and Stourbridge for example) the glassworkers made friggers in their own time on Saturday's and displayed them in a parade on the Sunday.
However, over the years the name "end of day" glass has been applied to any glass item which has colors "marvered in", that is specks of colored glass that have been laid out on a table or "marver" and rolled into the hot glass, then melted in, like the item on the left. The term has also been misapplied to slag glass, or opaque glass that has a different color added to the hot molten glass. It could be said that the term "end-of-day" glass is not very informative because it covers such a wide range of possibilities.
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