When we think of art on glass, we usually do not think of chemistry right away. Chemistry seems to be something that only scientists are interested in. However, much of glass art is actually formulas and chemical reactions. Especially when it comes to colored glass art, knowing the reaction of glass with different types of metals is critical.
The following are some types of metals that are used with natural glass to create different shades of colors in the art of glass.
1. Gold (Au)
First of all, gold is expensive, so that its use is extremely limited in art on glass.
Gold gives a rich ruby color, also referred to as ruby gold and cranberry. The first gold ruby glass is said to be from 1685 by Andreas Cassius. To this day, the techniques used to produce this colored glass are based on what Cassius did centuries ago.
2. Silver (Ag)
Silver has not been used a lot for creating colored glass art. It produces a spectrum of colors from yellow to brown. It is often put on the surface of the glass for decoration purposes, rather than being mixed with the batch.
3. Cobalt (Co)
Cobalt gives a rich, deep blue when used with potash mixes. In a lot of different areas of art, such as oil painting, cobalt is an expensive color. It has been used on medieval stained glass art since the 12th century.
Meanwhile, cobalt can also be used to create shades of pink when it is mixed with borosilicate batch, and green when mixed with iodides.
4. Manganese (Mn)
Manganese is one of the oldest substances used to create colored glass art. Early Egyptians used it to create purple art of glass. It is also used to decolorish glass.
While we will not delve into the complicated sides of chemistry here, note that depending on the state of Manganese, it can also produce yellow and brown.
5. Nickel (Ni)
Nickel is used with cobalt to decolorish lead crystal. Because lead crystal has a yellowish tint, and nickel has a purple color, they cancel each other out.
Like this, art on glass cannot be separated from chemistry. The creation process, as well as preservation and restoration, requires knowledge of chemistry. Hence, the art of glass is a combination of science and art.
