observation/question about old glass bottles

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Last year I made a "bottle tree" by putting old glass bottles on the branches of a small dead tree. Today, while cleaning up the yard, I noticed that a couple of the clear bottles have taken on a purplish cast. The glass has actually changed from clear to purple. Not on all the clear bottles, just a couple. The bottles are quite old. I KNOW they were clear when I put them up there a year ago. Anybody know what happened? They are actually prettier now...

-- Shannon at Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary (gratacres@aol.com), March 24, 2001

Answers

Bottles made before WWI have a different chemical. Some people have yards full of the old glass that they are aging. It is truly a beautiful color and will get deeper with more exposure to the sun. Some dishes done this way get pretty pricey!

-- Cora-Vee Caswell (coravee@locl.net), March 24, 2001.

We have lots of old purple glass here in the Southwest. It is due to exposure to the sun and chemical impurities in the old glass. Purple is the prevailing color; however, you will see other colors due to different impurities' depending on where and when the glass was made. Some is quite spendy.

-- Lynn Goltz (lynngoltz@aol.com), March 24, 2001.

Wow, that is so cool! I never would have guessed such a thing. Makes me want to dig out ALL my old bottles and hang them out in the sun! I could have wondered about this for years without getting an answer...what a helpful place this forum can be!

-- Shannon at Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary (gratacres@aol.com), March 24, 2001.

Here is one explanation:

http://www.patternglass.com/this_color_purple_99.htm

or

http://www.patternglass.com/this_color_purple_99.htm

Hope this helps.

-- Marty Boraas (boraas@miliserv.net), March 27, 2001.


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