Page 21 - May1964

May, 1964 NATIONAL BUITON BULLETTN 115

greens were as uniform. But this is what Mr. scarlett found there, ,.A wider range
of. vari_atjon, from a pale almcst chartreuse hue, through varior.us tones of .gra;-
sy' and 'bluish' to dark. I ended up with eleven, but imagine there may wdl be
more, since none of them run 'true' on any appreciable number of buttons.,' No
less tha.n twenty shadc of opaque blue werb noted. More surprising still - fifteen
opaque grays ranging from dirty wNte to dusky pink to batileship giay.
Besides the buttons ma,lle from glass of a single color there are those shaped
fro-m multi-colored glass. Here glass of differentiolors is marbled or intermiied
before the buttons &re mado. Ttrree distinctive types are:
Blends are intermixtures hav-ing some degxee of transparency throughout or some
are.qs.,that transmit light. often different shades of the sa^rie coloiflow together
as if the molten glass had taken the ,.dye,, unevenly.
Slag is an intermixture of opaque color(s) with or without white. Note that in
true slag the same colors appear on the back as on the front. when the front show
marbling but the back is unmarbled, the button classifies as overlay trim.
Tortoise is an intermixture of amber and brown to simulate the motfled coloring
of tortoise shell.
- up to this point we have been speaking of chromatic colors only, meaning the
colors- found in the spectrum. The non-chromatic button colors aie nhck, inite
and the various metallic ones. (Goldstone is the onl), metallic color here.) Uncol_
ored or clear glass also falls outside the spectrum.
since many collectors have wished it, au non-crrromatic kinds have been taken
out of ther trarrsparent and opaque categories. Each is now by itself. rn the case
of white, specialized elasses-are provided for clambroth/camphor, opalescent and
dense "milk" shades. Note ttrai clambrottr and camphor are itaceit together. That
pracfical solution is made necessary by the numbef of probldm shadi always en-
countered when a separation was attempted.
Readers are cautioned aqg"rnst_-regding any particular colors into ttre plates.
Il,ed, blue, brown all look alile. yellow, green -and gray are indistinguisrhable.
sinco colored plates are beyond our budget and black-and-whites reduce-all colors
to those two, we have resigned ourselves to the handicap and omit plates caption-
ed "Colors."
CONSTBUCTION
(Illustration on following page)
construction is the term applied to buttons which are entirely gl+qs, except for the
shank,_ which mq,v be metal. Most constructions employ fusio; of' glass- to glass.
Some, however, do not.
Blornn (1) The only blown glass buttoru are fragile "bubbles." Always hollow and
solf-shanked, most are ball-shaped though a iew are ovoid and berry-shaped.
Crackle (2) The glass is permeated with partial fractures.
Lacy (3) glass buttons are named after the stippled pressed glass called lacy. pat-
terns of considerable delicacy are pressd, or molded, in thttop. T'he bac[ of the
transparerrt body is backed with paint, metallic or chromatic,-and double-backed
with black. stripped down examples, with all paint removed, ire frequenily found
today.
overlay trim (4) is colord glasq appearing on the surface of glass of a different
color, ttrat irs, the button body is of one solid color and the trim-is in contrast. Ten
pattern types are listed.
Overlay sheath (5) has a core of one color enveloped in or festooned with a diffen-
ent color(s). T'he chief kinds are: