27/04/2026
The mystery of iridescent glass 🩷💜🩵
An interesting article below explaining how iridescence was found in ancient glass through weathering with burial over the years 😱 and then replicated in the 19th century by Louis Tiffany.
'If you’ve ever wandered through a museum displaying ancient artefacts, chances are you were amazed at the quality and artistry displayed in glass objects of that time. The some incredible pieces shining with iridescent colours.
However, despite the undeniable talents of ancient glassmakers, this particular effect was not intentional or even achieved during production. In fact, iridescence found in ancient glass is a result of weathering of its surface caused by burial. The weathering process itself depends largely on the burial conditions such as heat, humidity and type of soil, although the chemistry of the glass, determined by the purity of raw materials and their compositional ratio, also plays a part. The iridescence is produced when alkalis, or soluble salts, are leached from the buried glass by slightly acidic water present in the soil. This in turn causes the formation of very fine layers which can delaminate or even flake off creating a prism effect.
But it wasn’t until the very end of the 19th century that the iridescence of ancient glass was replicated by Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933), the son of Charles Tiffany – the New York jeweller'
Cooooool 😎👌💜 ###
