blue glass

A Few (Glass) Jewels For My One Year Anniversary

Gasp! I thought September 16th was my one year blogging anniversary, but I was wrong. It was the 12th of September and I missed it! I guess I could cheat and back date this post, but to keep my journalistic integrity, I won’t. We’ll just have to celebrate a few days late!

Since I started out at Nogi Shrine, what better way than to commemorate with a few sparkling jewels seen there this past Sunday? Some of my favorite finds are the humblest of objects, like these Taisho era shoyu (soy sauce) bottles. The disposables of their day, they had no particular value and were simply a method for delivering a product. Fast forward 80-90 years and now they are collectible!

A favorite dealer had basically assembled a complete collection and had I wanted one instantaneously, it was there for the purchasing. While I am often featuring glass in all forms on the blog, what makes these bottles particularly special is their rare glass screw tops. I had bought a huge green bottle at Kawagoe last spring simply because I was so in love with that screw top. It seems amazing to me that they have lasted in perfect working condition. These two blue-green ones were my favorites – I love the art deco detailing.

Making beauty from everyday objects like these is something Amy Merrick does particularly well. In addition to drooling over her spectacular flower arrangements, I have followed her posts about found glass and ceramics from Dead Horse Bay in New York. I would love to go junk collecting there but never have the time when I am back in the US. Her collection of found bottles on an antique spool thread display shelf is stunning. To see more of her work, you must go take a look at Amy’s gorgeous new website.

Dealers in Tokyo do a great job of presenting their glass wares, often grouping them by color like these at the Azabu Juban Saturday market.

And this summer I snapped this photo at Lakeview Antiques in Bolton Landing, NY, where they arranged their glass by color and style. I think Ball canning jars like those on the second shelf are some of the most multi-functional and inexpensive vintage glass around. They come in different sizes and colors, display beautifully and have many uses. My friend K used them as vases for a summer night party – nothing simpler or prettier! I just wish I had a photo to show…

…kinda like this.

And Joni just posted this kitchen by Susie Bohnsack over at Cote de Texas. Note how the old turqouise seltzer bottles positively glow like jewels in the backlit cabinet!

If you are interested in glass bottle collecting, Martha Stewart Living recently featured an outstanding article naming and dating different bottle types.

Photo credits: 1-2, 4-5. me, 3. Amy Merrick via An Apple a Day, 6. via Covet Living, 7. Susie Bohnsack/Pearhouse Design via Cote de Texas

Sep 14, 2011 By tokyojinja in Glass, Shrine Sales and Flea Markets Tags: Ball jars, blue glass, flea market, glass bottles, shrine sale, soy sauce, vintage glass

Feeling Blue…Opaline Glass Sets the Mood

I saw a lot of blue opaline glass on my antique travels this summer. I’ll use the term lightly, as much of it was not “officially” the rare French glass produced from the late 18th century through about 1890. Real opaline is a richly saturated cerulean-meets-turquoise type blue, quite different from the watery blue-green glass I am often writing about (here and here). Sometimes it has hand painting or gilding. Much of the glass I saw was in the opaline “style,” but it still packed a colorful punch, reminding me of one of my favorite interiors, the living room of Christy Ford, featured in Southern Living. Ford and her mother Jan Roden (whose house featured years ago in House Beautiful remains one of my inspiration interiors) have what looks to be a fabulous shop called And George in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Here you can see a bit of the chandelier peeking out in her entryway.

And designer Suzanne Kasler loves to use it too. The key to using is successfully is to group a series of objects in a mostly neutral toned and simple space, perhaps picking up the color for another accent elsewhere. Here Suzanne uses it on the ottoman to great effect. Christy Ford used similarly colored candles in her living room above.

Here’s a close-up…

I think I must be feeling a bit blue myself. Leaving the US tomorrow morning after 10 wonderful weeks, going home to Tokyo. Bittersweet as always…

Image credits: 1-3. me, 4-5. Southern Living, photo credit William Waldron, 6-7. both rooms designed by Suzanne Kasler, mea culpa, I don’t have the credits on them, but perhaps they are from her book Suzanne Kasler: Inspired Interiors.

Aug 22, 2011 By tokyojinja in Color, Glass Tags: And George, blue glass, Christy Ford, Jan Roden, opaline glass, Suzanne Kasler