Product Description
Oval orange/amber indiana carnival glass relish dish with sunflower pattern.
Measures 24cm x 12cm.
About Carnival Glass
Carnival Glass is pressed glass which has an iridized surface treatment. It is made by exposing the newly formed hot pressed glass to sprays, fumes and vapours from heated metallic oxides. These form a lustrous coating at the surface of the glass. It looks as if it has rainbows on it, like the coloured patterns sometimes seen when petrol floats on water; like the rainbow colours on the surface of a soap bubble. What you are actually seeing are light intereference patterns produced by constantly shifting wavelengths.
The name "Carnival Glass" was not used originally by the manufacturers, who had all kinds of names for it like "Iridill" and "Rainbow Lustre". When the market for carnival glass slumped in the twenties, second-quality carnival glass was given away as prizes at carnivals, hence the name Carnival Glass.