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101. The Press

A few years ago we resurrected an old glass press from West Virginia. It was built around 1880 and likely used by Fenton Glass.

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The Mold

The company who sold us the press gave us a vintage mold to “practice with.” They picked a random mold from a pile, but it was more meaningful than they knew…

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The Pour

As we poured molten glass into the mold for our first test piece, we read the words “punch” and “custard” on the rim of the mold…

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The Name

The name engraved in the metal that caught our Swedish co-owner’s eye. Jenny Lind! She’s known as the Swedish Nightingale, a talented opera singer in the 19th century who made a fortune from her singing, and toured around America with PT Barnum.

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The Custard Bowl

In 1956, this design appeared in Cambridge Glass’s catalog, in honor of Jenny Lind. It sold as a “Custard Bowl,” which was fancy at the time, and in this same mold they could switch one part out and create a handle on the bowl, which became the “Punch Cup.”

Cambridge Glass sold the 13-piece Jenny Lind Punch Set for $15 in 1956 - about $165 today!

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Brought to life

Today, this bowl sees the light again, at the AO Glass factory in Burlington, Vermont. We use high quality lead-free crystal glass, but other than that, the technique is not too different than it was 100 years ago.

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Vintage made modern

A retro design, harkening back to the heyday of American glass-pressing, and celebrating creativity and music. A dramatic entrance for Jenny Lind into the 21st century.