Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Glass Flower Frogs


Many of the art glass companies made flower frogs during the early 1900s to about 1950. Many designs could well be inspiration to potters. 

I remember a very large. shallow bowl made of black glass with a scalloped edge with a center area for a matching frog that was a "Very chilly nekked lady in a lake". She was about 6 inches tall and looked like this.

She did most of her standing in the attic, however--mostly due to the fact we lived in a small, conservative town.

I can remember only a few times when she stood in a grouping of daffodils, though, and I thought she was beautiful.


A lot of glass companies made simple frogs as well as sculptural pieces like this.



Some work better in glass. Especially as in this example of a green glass 'brick' form. It would be quite pleasing with the flower stems showing through the bottom.

This won't work in clay, but the form is nice. A great glaze or design on the face might be a good opportunity.

Somewhere I have seen a similar vase by Paul Gauguin.  Did you know he made many ceramic pieces? Undervalued, in my opinion

Clear glass is successful because it seems to disappear as in the next frogs. I don't know about Lalique, but I know Baccarat made some flower frog pieces.

The clear two-pieced set one sold at Christies for $250.



Tall vases with a removable frog in the top works well in clay. As a matter of fact, I made a couple of these and they were very successful.  The frog rested on a small ridge and could be removed so the vase could be used for used in another way. 

The same could be said for the next two bulbous vases. A pierced lid could be made either with the criss-cross motif or with holes in it. These two are technically rose bowls. Anything with a metal criss-cross flower holder is classified as such. The rounded shape just screams for a great, runny glaze. 






This is a unique take by Tiffany. I'm not too sure how it would look with flowers; you would surely want to let the bottom of the bowl design show.....


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