Bullseye Glass

Although we were not beset by the snow that has blanketed most of the UK, this was the coldest day here since our central heating system has not been functioning, so we set off in steady, icy, rain for a forest drive.

I was not in the mood for being inspired to photograph gloomy raindrops on the windscreen, through which to capture spray thrown up by vehicles, headlights reflected in waterlogged tarmac, or even dripping donkeys; even less to stir tingling fingers and toes from the Modus.

Prepared to return home without a picture we settled on brunch at

The Brockenhurst Buttery.

While awaiting for Jackie’s home cooked macaroni cheese and my

ham, eggs, and chips, I had plenty of time to study the

windows facing me.

“Crown glass was an early type of window glass. In this process, glass was blown into a “crown” or hollow globe. This was then transferred from the blowpipe to a punty and then flattened by reheating and spinning out the bowl-shaped piece of glass (bullion) into a flat disk by centrifugal force, up to 5 or 6 feet (1.5 to 1.8 metres) in diameter. The glass was then cut to the size required.[1]

The thinnest glass was in a band at the edge of the disk, with the glass becoming thicker and more opaque toward the center. Known as a bullseye, the thicker center area around the pontil mark was used for less expensive windows. To fill large window spaces with the best glass, many small diamond shapes were cut from the edge of the disk, and then some might be halved into triangles. These were mounted in a lead lattice work and fitted into the window frame. 

Crown glass was one of the two most common processes for making window glass until the 19th century. The other was blown plate. Crown glass window panes with ceramic frames have been found at Soba East, the medieval capital of Alodia. They are only 110–115 millimetres (4.3–4.5 in) in diameter and were probably used to provide light in storerooms.[2] The process of making crown glass window panes was perfected by French glassmakers in the 1320s, notably around Rouen, and was a trade secret. Hence crown glass was not made in London until 1678.

Crown glass is one of many types of hand-blown glass. Other methods include: broad sheet, blown plate, polished plate and cylinder blown sheet. These methods of manufacture lasted at least until the end of the 19th century. The early 20th century marks the move away from hand-blown to machine-manufactured glass such as rolled plate, machine drawn cylinder sheet, flat drawn sheet, single and twin ground polished plate and float glass.[3]” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_glass_(window)

Prompted by the beautifully photographed and timely post, “Where Have All The Flowers Gone?” from equinoxio21.wordpress.com·

I returned to my earlier post

The Bees

in order to emphasise the section about the widowed casualties of the First World War. I have retained the original post title but changed the header picture drawing attention to the last, but not least, story on the post.

As Happy As A Pig In The Proverbial

This had 27 pictures missing. Fortunately I traced them in my iMac Photos by the date of the post. They all bear their titles in that archive, so I was able to reinsert them into the post hoping I had interpreted my text correctly. I changed the original header picture.

Félicité Perpétue

With this one I managed to have two copies of the header in the body of the post, and can’t take one out. Never mind, they are pretty flowers.

This evening we dined on Jackie’s trademark cottage pie; firm cauliflower, carrots, and Brussels sprouts, with which she drank Hoegaarden, and I finished the Malbec.

78 comments

  1. Very beautiful white roses in one older post, wow! I love the glass too. I like the term Take Away better than the Carry Out we use! ????

    Reply

  2. Really loved your history lesson on glass
    Beautiful pictures. Hope your pub meal was warming enough to sustain you upon returning home. Your continued stay in the involuntary chiller has my knees aching in sympathy. Glad you have photography recovery to give you purpose and a sense of accomplishment.

    Reply

  3. Love the finished look of the “bulls eye” gives the window an olde look, character etc.
    And gloomy weather makes for gloomy feelings….hope the Modus has a good heater.

    Reply

  8. I’m sorry about how cold it is in your house. The information about the bullseye glass is fascinating. How old is The Buttery building?

    I’m imagining you in layers of clothing and fingerless gloves as you work at the computer. ????

    Reply

    1. Thanks very much, Merril. I will ask about the building. My sense is that it is not as old as it looks. Fingerless gloves – now there’s an idea

      Reply

          1. Merril has just said that she has seen and experienced it on a few other sites, too

          4. As an experiment, I used the keyboard to create the smiley face on the above comment. It seems to have worked!

  11. Thank you for teaching us about that glass! Very interesting!
    Despite the weathery weather your keen eye found something cool to photograph!
    Plus such cool shapes in your photos…the shapes on the front of The Buttery, the plate, the eggs, the glass, etc!
    So sorry to hear about how cold it is at your home.
    (((HUGS))) ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

    Reply

  13. Derrick, so interesting about the glass! I used to make stained glass, so I was used to cutting glass, which is so tricky. But once I stopped I couldn’t go back to it as I was too old to relearn tricks.
    So why is it that you didn’t get the snow? Is it because you are near the coast? Or was it just a fluke?

    Reply

    1. I think we were lucky. Somerset – also on the SW coast got a lot. I have several examples of the stained glass work of my friend Giles. Thanks very much, Luanne

      Reply

  15. I like your story/history about the ‘Bullseye Glass’ … I did ‘glass blowing’ as part of my chemistry course back in my Uni’ days …

    Reply

  16. Years ago we sopped in on a glass blower who welcomed visitors(sitting back out of the way.) I still have fond memories of the process. Nearer to us now is the Corning Museum of Glass with marvelous items on display.

    Reply

  18. It snowed here for most of the day but didn’t lay. I spent a deal of time struggling with smokeless fuel buckets and log baskets followed by stocking the bird feeders in anticipation of the heavy snow forecast for tomorrow. It was a bit too much for this long Covid body, and after sinking into a chair I fell asleep! As expected I was admonished by Joshua for not waiting for him.

    The cold and rain must make your current situation very miserable.

    Reply

  19. That was very interesting. Thank you Derrick. In 1988 we were in Venice. We went to a glass factory. It was lovely watching the craftsmen making beautiful glass bottles, jars and many more things of different colours. We have a small red coloured bottle.

    Reply

  27. Oh, gosh! What trouble you have had with your heating system. No wonder you wanted to stay in your nice warm car. Lunch must have tasted oh so good, and thanks for the fascinating history about glass. I tend to take for granted how things are made, and it’s nice to be reminded of the skill and craft involved in the creation. Especially in the pre-industrial days.

    Reply

Leave a Reply