Volcanic glass

scooter riegelsperger · Wed Feb 11, 2004 3:27 pm

Anybody out there ever heard of volcanic ash glass? I just bought a 5" bowl on ebay that supposedly is made of volcanic ash from Mt. St.Helens.
Says it was made from volcanic ash, from the fallout, fused at 2600 degrees to form volcanic glass. Handcast at Bullseye Glass in Portland.
It has some kind of irid coating on surface with the shape of Mt.St.Helens on top. Glass is transparent, color is kind of drab green color. Stamped 1980- Bullseye Glass on back. Just curious.

charlie · Post by **charlie** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 4:41 pm

i have some pottery that supposedly has a glaze made from mt st helen's ash. it's blue, with a slight irid coating.

Kim Bellis · Post by **Kim Bellis** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 4:45 pm

I have seen "hanging blown ornaments" that say they are made from volcanic ash. Do not know anything about it - but have seen it.

Rebecca M. · Post by **Rebecca M.** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 6:22 pm

I saw a lot of Mt. St. Helen's glass after the eruption. They have the date right anyway. May 18, 1980 for the first one. I think it blew again after that. I was in the Spokane area at the time. We had been listening to albums all day when the sky got very dark. It looked like a big mother of a storm coming. When the ash started to fall we finally realized what it was.
The only thing is I also saw the M.S.H. ash glass years and years later, and always wondered where they were getting all this ash from?

Kitty · Post by **Kitty** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 11:08 pm

i've seen the blown "christmas" ornaments made from the ash. i dont know what the process is. the ones i've seen do have an irid surface.

Dayle Ann · Post by **Dayle Ann** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 7:37 am

I was a potter in Portland at the time Helen blew. For years, I think every potter in the NW at least did a trial of ash for glaze! Some were so-so, but there were also some very beautiful effects. It became kind of a cliche for a while-- lots of people doing tourist souvenir items. Then glass people started using it. I've seen some gorgeous work in galleries, lovely cast and blown work. I wouldn't mind trying it out myself, just for fun, now that I am starting to work with glass (and learning ever so slowly...).

Helen blew several times after the "Big One". There are huge piles of the ash all over the place (we're talking humongous hill-size piles), so it is not hard to find sources of it to use.

Dayle Ann

daffodildeb · Post by **daffodildeb** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 6:42 am

I have a paperweight from there. It is very iridescent, but I'm not sure if all of that is the Mt. St. Helens glass. Part of it is clear red (like a cranberry); the rest is opaque iridescence.