2019.12.18 Tuesday Stretch

Cal here. Holiday greetings and Merry Tuesday Stretch, I hope you are all in the holiday spirit and ready to celebrate however you might be doing that at this time of year. We hosted around 160 friends, including 25 or so kids & their parents from Jeff’s kindergarten class, during our open house weekend on Dec 14 & 15. The dining room was decorated in green and silver this year, so we were able to use lots of our green and white stretch glass for serving the savory and sweet treats provided by our caterer. This included center handled servers, plates, cake stands, bowls and candleholders.

The florist used a couple of stretch glass vases as well…

…and I did flower arrangements in three late period stretch glass epergnes.

Ruby…

Emerald Green…

and Topaz Opalescent.

One characteristic which makes stretch glass so wonderful to use is the colors in which it was made. The Ruby is so red and the greens offer several shades of green from Florentine Green to Emerald Green to Green Ice. The crystal stretch glass always works well at the holidays. Marigold and Topaz stretch glass also works well with holiday decorations. And I’m sure there are other colors which would work well with other decors. We do our best to use our stretch glass to accent our home and table during the holiday season and it always generates questions and comments.

There were lots of other useful pieces of stretch glass waiting for their turn on the table but we didn’t have a need for them this holiday season so they got a rest. I’ll comment on a few of them as we continue looking at useful stretch and carnival glass.

One of the largest categories of useful/special use stretch glass is the items made for vanities and dressing tables. Fenton was clearly the leader in this category and made enough variations to provide something for everything and everyone. Take a look at the range of colognes, powder puffs, square jars, etc. which were available. In the late period of stretch glass production, Fenton returned again to items in this category and added a few more items including a ring or jewelry holder.

Another special use category is automobile vases. Popular among those who owned upscale autos, these were mounted on the inside of the cars and were filled with fresh flowers to help defuse the gasoline smell which was often prevalent. Diamond Dugan is the only company to produce car vases but that doesn’t mean they are all the same. They are available in a few colors: blue, green, topaz, crystal, amethyst, marigold and cobalt blue. The cobalt ones are quite rare; the vases in the other colors are not exactly readily available, although with consistent focus one can acquire pairs of them.

There are lots more useful items in stretch glass. Maybe the most commonly known is the lemon tray or lemon server. The topaz ones, generally decorated, are quite abundant and infinitely useful. I’ve used them to, well, serve lemon wedges (and used Florentine Green ones to serve lime wedges) at parties and they are a big hit. A neighbor even asked me to get some for her in various colors, which I was able to do. With this I’ll bid everyone a good night and wish you all Happy Holidays and a Happy and Healthy New Year. See you in 2020 with more Stretch Tuesdays.