More "sick" (cool) glass!

[JOETHECROW]

http://www.peachridgeglass.com/2012/02/benicia-iridescence-and-patina-on-bottles-not-a-sick-bottle/

 

[surfaceone]

Hey Joe,

Thanks for the directions to that psyk page. I thought I recognized a pickle and a couple of our players there.

 

[RedGinger]

That page usually has interesting bottles and info. I like "psyk". I'm going to start using that.

 

[rockbot]

Nice pickle jar Red. I must have missed that post. can you refresh my memory?

ORIGINAL: RedGinger

That page usually has interesting bottles and info.  I like "psyk".  I'm going to start using that.

 

[WonGan]

Thanks for that site Joe.Love that "gasoline on water patina"!

 

[RedGinger]

Rock, I'm trying to remember what that post was called. I'll try to find it for you.

 

[RED Matthews]

Well Joe, I guess I will always be twisted by the things people do to make a glass item tell a different story than what the bottle should be able to tell by its-self. I just feel offended by that alterations that hide the real story.

{ In my opinion it is an arrogant self recognition of another un-needed alteration to glass that has it’s own story to tell. All I can accept is the glass coloration from the contaminated sea water in their specific location; not the man made alteration.
RED Matthews }

My better half tells me I should keep my opinions in my own head and not pass them around. I guess she is no doubt right.

 

[surfaceone]

Hey RED,

I'm misunderstanding where you are coming from on this. I visited the psyk page, and saw several nice examples of what is frequently called "sick" glass in these blue pages. The Benicia flats have been spitting out these psychedelic beauties for some time. They were and may still be widely heralded by the West Coast collectors.

I'm unaware of "man made alteration" producing this beautiful abalone shell sheen that sometimes magically transforms even the lowliest bottle into a a unique work of art.

]​

I've dug quite a number of bottles that have the colorful patina, that is difficult to capture photographically sometimes. Some folks dislike the look entirely and seek to have the patina, and any etching removed via cleaning or tumbling.

I'm one of those that really love the transformational aspect that colors in mysterious ways.

Heck, I even love the etching that sometimes re-graves a bottle while it is entombed. Here's one. as found, that graced the site of some trenching I walked up on. Sometimes you get an etched wavelike pattern that is beautiful to some folks.

 

[RedGinger]

I had never heard of the term Benecia in relation to sickness. Well, I hadn't heard it all, that I remember. It's pretty neat to learn something new about the conditions that produce this patina, out west. I think if it's one of those beautiful iridescent colors, let it be. I find them very appealing to the eye. If it's just a sick bottle with lots of haze and whatnot, I can see getting it tumbled.

I have dug many bottles from dumps and privies that have this sickness and they came out of the ground that way. Often, you will see the flakes all over the ground when digging. Unfortunately, sometimes it flakes off too much or comes off when washed. It came off of that pickle when we tried to clean it up a little. It was cracked, but I wanted to keep it just for the colors.

 

[rockbot]

I used to refer that look to opalescent. Like the opal gems found in Australia. I believe its formed by a similar mechanism but obviously over millions of years.

Mineral water fills cracks in the earth and evaporates. This process continues over and over forming opals. What we see on bottles is a mere 100 years or so. Just imagine what it would look like in a million years![]