Carnival Glass NetworK – the Story Behind the Stories.
A Look Behind the Scenes over 25 Years (as at June 2019).
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It’s our Silver Anniversary! 25 years ago, we published our very first issue of NetworK, in 1994. Within months the circulation had soared, and soon we were truly International, sending our NetworK journal all over the world. So, what’s the story? We’ll share with you some of the dramas and the joys that we’ve experienced over the past 25 years of intensive Carnival Glass research and writing. You’re going to read about things that you won’t have heard before! Buckle up, this could be a very revealing ride!
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NetworK, our Mission. Summer 1994, and Whitney Houston topped the charts for weeks with “I will always love you”. It summed up how we felt about Carnival Glass – we were passionate about it, and we had a burning desire to research, to write and to share our discoveries with other collectors. We chose the name “NetworK” to reflect the interconnected web of friendships around the world that arose and thrived because of Carnival. On the right is how we explained our mission. |
The introduction to our NetworK journal #1 in 1994.
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We ruffled some Feathers!
As is so often the case when presented with new things, some people were not happy about our venture, even suggesting that we should have asked their permission. Goodness! It seemed we were challenging the natural order of things – how dare we launch our own Carnival Glass research journal. We were lambasted with some very unpleasant comments in the weeks immediately after we sent out our first edition, but we’re pleased to say that very many more people supported our endeavour, and we increased our circulation very rapidly, with a growing number of copies being shipped Internationally, to many countries around the world. Yes! We were up and running!
Scissors and Glue.
Our first issues of NetworK were incredibly low-tech. We had an Archimedes computer, a printer, a camera, and our Carnival collection. But … no internet (this was 1994, don’t forget). Technology has moved so quickly that it’s hard to remember just what it was like back then. We used Stephen’s photos and Glen’s drawings for illustration, but we were not able to afford colour printing at first.
We ruffled some Feathers!
As is so often the case when presented with new things, some people were not happy about our venture, even suggesting that we should have asked their permission. Goodness! It seemed we were challenging the natural order of things – how dare we launch our own Carnival Glass research journal. We were lambasted with some very unpleasant comments in the weeks immediately after we sent out our first edition, but we’re pleased to say that very many more people supported our endeavour, and we increased our circulation very rapidly, with a growing number of copies being shipped Internationally, to many countries around the world. Yes! We were up and running!
Scissors and Glue.
Our first issues of NetworK were incredibly low-tech. We had an Archimedes computer, a printer, a camera, and our Carnival collection. But … no internet (this was 1994, don’t forget). Technology has moved so quickly that it’s hard to remember just what it was like back then. We used Stephen’s photos and Glen’s drawings for illustration, but we were not able to afford colour printing at first.
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We had decided at the start that our venture had to support itself but not be profit making. Our aim was to keep costs low to subscribers, so that we were not out of pocket. So, we printed out the articles on our computer and cut them out to fit exactly onto the boards (with margins / gutters) that the local printer supplied us with. We photocopied Stephen’s colour photos in black and white, cut them to size and then glued them onto the board in exactly the right place. Scissors and glue! The really difficult part was the layout for printing which was like an intricate jigsaw puzzle – making sure that all articles started and finished in the right place, and that the pages appeared in the right order. We would have to begin all over again if they didn’t. To be absolutely frank, it was a nightmare, and many times we wondered if we were truly sane to carry on. But somehow, we did. On the right is one of the boards that we pasted up for the printer. This one is from NetworK 22 (1999) so we were pretty good at it by then! The colour photo we’ve placed in front, is the one we had to cut to size and then photocopy in black and white. The one you see on the page is the photocopy that we glued onto the printer’s board. If you look carefully you can just make out the printer’s yellow margin lines. For a few issues, we wanted to show some pieces in colour, so we had sheets and sheets of duplicate colour photos copied up – then we cut them all to size and stuck them in place in every single issue. That took a long, long time! We also had some Colour Specials with photo inserts, and in 2000 and 2001, we celebrated the millennium with a run of colour covers (below). 
Shortly before we launched NetworK, we had the pleasure of meeting Joan and Dave Doty. Joan reminded us of how we met, in the following delightful story:
“The June 1993 issue of ICGA’s “The Pump”, had an intriguing article, “Life’s a Bowl of Cherries”, discussing enameled pitchers and tumblers with cherries. It wasn’t so much the subject matter that I found intriguing, as it was the depth of research and analysis that made the article fascinating. I knew I had to meet these people. At the ICGA convention a month later, going around to the rooms, there was “Thistlewood” on a door. Oh! Yes! Now what were their names? All I could remember was “Glen.” So I walked in, introduced myself to the gentleman sitting on the couch, and said, “You must be Glen.” He jumped up and said, ”Well, actually I’m Steve, but I’m glad to meet you.” “ It was the start of a very close friendship between us that continues and thrives. Joan wrote some superb articles for our NetworK journals, and crucially (as PageWorks) she became our USA distributor of NetworK and our videos (see below). For each issue, we would package up a large box of the NetworK journal and ship it to Joan – who sent it to the ever growing number of US subscribers. It worked like clockwork for many years with only one hiccup, when the box took a “scenic route” around the Pacific regions and possibly detoured via the southern hemisphere too. It arrived eventually, with many postmarks on it from all sorts of exotic places. The mail got through! The Original “Hooked on Carnival” |
Below: a section of the back cover of NetworK 25, 2000. We took the photo in the home of Eleanor and the late Charles Mochel. The items are (left to right) an aqua opal Diamond Point vase by Northwood, aqua opal Acorn Burrs punch bowl and base, Northwood – and on the right is another Diamond Point vase. The Mochels told us it was “thought to be the only one reported in Persian Blue, a colour normally associated with Fenton. The base glass has an opaque blue effect”.
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A year or so after we launched NetworK, we embarked upon a ground-breaking new project – we were going to make an educational video about Carnival. Remember this was in the mid-1990s. The internet was only just starting to emerge, and mobile / cell phones and digital cameras were in their infancy. Today you can film on your phone … but 25 years ago it was a different scene. So, we got together with a professional video production company and worked with them for around 6 months – the result was our first Hooked on Carnival video in 1996 – distributed all over the world in several formats (NTSC, VHS and yes … even Betamax). There’s an interesting story behind the name “Hooked on Carnival”. A friend of ours – Rita – lived in a village nearby called Hook. She was an enthusiastic collector with amazing Carnival Glass, and over coffee and cakes (she made amazing cakes!) Rita would joke that she was “hooked on Carnival”. It was the perfect title for our videos, and so we obtained her permission, back in 1996, to use the phrase. We wrote a detailed script and created “story boards” for the production, we filmed, we worked on post-production – and we even had the late Frank M. Fenton do some of the narration for us (the other narrators were Glen and our son, Andy). Here’s the original storyboard for the opening scenes of our first “Hooked on Carnival” video. The thumbnail sketches show the images of the glass that was to be filmed – the text below them was the spoken narrative. |
The sleeve on our original, 1996 “Hooked on Carnival” educational video.
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We followed up the original “Hooked on Carnival” with a second video called “Hooked on Carnival Patterns” in which we explored the links between contemporary influences (back in the early 1900s) and many Carnival patterns. We even had embroidery done for that video, to demonstrate the inspiration behind some Carnival designs. This one shown on the right was done to illustrate Fenton’s Captive Rose pattern.
A full text script booklet was enclosed with the videos – an educational asset in itself. Classic Carnival Pattern Themes – pioneering the way forward Our fresh and different approach to Carnival from the very start of NetworK was to look at pattern themes – birds, fruits, flowers, geometrics and so on. We researched them in the context of social and design influences at the very time that Carnival was being made, in a way that helped to make the past come alive. Our series of articles in the Glass Collector journal (1990s) had the same approach – and we took it even further in our first Schiffer hard back book, “Carnival Glass the Magic & the Mystery”, in 1998. |
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Peacock Themes: here’s an extract from the third issue of NetworK in 1994, in a major feature on the peacock designs, entitled “The Eyes of Argus”.
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A stylised representation of the peacock feather on Fenton’s Stream of Hearts
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“The peacock was a favourite motif in Japanese design, dating back to the 8th century. As the Japanese style began to inspire the Arts & Crafts and Aesthetic Movements of the late 1800s, and the slightly later Art Nouveau period, the peacock motif soon entered their repertoires …
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... it was not a surprise, therefore, that just a few years later, Carnival Glass began to reflect popular style and demand by using the peacock design in a wide variety of forms, both natural and stylised. Additionally, the richness and colours of the iridescent effects created on carnival Glass perfectly reflected the shimmering blues and greens seen in the peacock’s plumage.”
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Northwood Peacocks (on the Fence) design
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Who first called it Classic Carnival?
Another innovation that we pioneered in 1997 was the use of the term “Classic Carnival”. In fact, there’s a rather interesting story behind this that needs to be told. While we were working on "Carnival Glass the Magic & the Mystery" we needed a clear and logical way of referring to early, old Carnival. There were debates among collectors, and various terms were put forward, including “vintage” and “old”. Glen discussed it with her mother (the late and much missed, Pauline) as she, a glass collector herself, was a wise, thoughtful lady. “You should call it Classic Carnival” she said.
It epitomises the quintessential essence of the early output, like a classic novel or a classic car – something recognised that exemplifies and typifies that era of Carnival. So, we pioneered the use of the term “Classic Carnival” over twenty years ago - and we used it in our books and all our writing from that point onward. We also contacted our friend, Dave Doty, who was working on his first Field Guide at the time, and he agreed to use it too. So, hats off to Glen’s mother, Pauline, for coining the term “Classic Carnival”.
Who first called it Classic Carnival?
Another innovation that we pioneered in 1997 was the use of the term “Classic Carnival”. In fact, there’s a rather interesting story behind this that needs to be told. While we were working on "Carnival Glass the Magic & the Mystery" we needed a clear and logical way of referring to early, old Carnival. There were debates among collectors, and various terms were put forward, including “vintage” and “old”. Glen discussed it with her mother (the late and much missed, Pauline) as she, a glass collector herself, was a wise, thoughtful lady. “You should call it Classic Carnival” she said.
It epitomises the quintessential essence of the early output, like a classic novel or a classic car – something recognised that exemplifies and typifies that era of Carnival. So, we pioneered the use of the term “Classic Carnival” over twenty years ago - and we used it in our books and all our writing from that point onward. We also contacted our friend, Dave Doty, who was working on his first Field Guide at the time, and he agreed to use it too. So, hats off to Glen’s mother, Pauline, for coining the term “Classic Carnival”.
Bob Smith’s “Carnival Glass Trek of a Lifetime”
One evening, way back in 1996, we had a phone call from a gentleman in Boston, USA. He explained to us that his name was Bob Smith – he’d seen our NetworK journals, and he realised we were enthusiastic researchers searching for the truth. And so began an enduring, close friendship and a ground-breaking research partnership, that covered three decades until Bob’s sad death in 2017.
Before Bob’s visit to, and research into glassmaking in India, the received wisdom among Carnival collectors (based on a story in a UK club newsletter) was that items marked JAIN were from a particular Czech maker and stood for JAblonecky INdustrisklo (Jablonec aka Gablonz glass industry), and that no Carnival had been made in India. Along with many others, we took this for a fact, so it was a mental challenge for us at first to accept Bob’s information. But he was persuasive and convincing – and crucially, he had the evidence to substantiate it. Bob was absolutely correct that Carnival had been made in India. We began to work in partnership with Bob, sending letters by AirMail to various Indian companies in the glass making area around Firozabad.
One evening, way back in 1996, we had a phone call from a gentleman in Boston, USA. He explained to us that his name was Bob Smith – he’d seen our NetworK journals, and he realised we were enthusiastic researchers searching for the truth. And so began an enduring, close friendship and a ground-breaking research partnership, that covered three decades until Bob’s sad death in 2017.
Before Bob’s visit to, and research into glassmaking in India, the received wisdom among Carnival collectors (based on a story in a UK club newsletter) was that items marked JAIN were from a particular Czech maker and stood for JAblonecky INdustrisklo (Jablonec aka Gablonz glass industry), and that no Carnival had been made in India. Along with many others, we took this for a fact, so it was a mental challenge for us at first to accept Bob’s information. But he was persuasive and convincing – and crucially, he had the evidence to substantiate it. Bob was absolutely correct that Carnival had been made in India. We began to work in partnership with Bob, sending letters by AirMail to various Indian companies in the glass making area around Firozabad.
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In NetworK 14 and several subsequent issues, we explored the emerging knowledge about Carnival Glass made in India. We have all our documentation as well as Bob’s original correspondence. Some of the most important documents are in this article: Carnival from India - The Story Behind The Glass.
We’ll share with you how exciting and almost frenetic our joint research was with Bob, into Indian Carnival. We were working intensively, uncovering fresh designs from India on tumblers almost daily – so we decided to take it in turns at assigning new pattern names to them. So, one was for Bob to name (some examples of his choices being “Bridal Bouquet” and “Shazam”) and Glen would name the next (favourite examples being “Shalimar” and “Monsoon”). Our daughter Angie helped out too (“Nutmeg Grater” and “Indian Bracelets”). 
The Jain Fish vase on the cover of NetworK 14
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Extract from NetworK 14, 1997, in which we broke the news that Carnival Glass had been made in India. Bob’s Smith’s account of stepping over a water buffalo “very carefully” to enter the Chor Bazaar, was a delight.
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Subsequently, and working closely with Bob, we delved into Carnival from Europe. Our joint work established solidly the Carnival output from both Inwald and Rindskopf in Czechoslovakia (that previously we had been told by an “expert”, was a red herring and impossible).
We corresponded with Bob daily, sending emails back and forth, as we explored new horizons.
Bob Smith lived … and died … for his tumblers
When we visited Bob in Boston, we fully understood the depth of his passion for Carnival. Long-time Carnival collectors know that it took Bob many, many years and enormous dedication to assemble his unique tumbler collection. It was his life, his joy, his reason for living - an inspiration to other collectors. It may not be well known that Bob lived frugally in a tiny, cramped, two-room apartment with a shared bathroom, on the first floor of a multi-occupancy
Bob Smith lived … and died … for his tumblers
When we visited Bob in Boston, we fully understood the depth of his passion for Carnival. Long-time Carnival collectors know that it took Bob many, many years and enormous dedication to assemble his unique tumbler collection. It was his life, his joy, his reason for living - an inspiration to other collectors. It may not be well known that Bob lived frugally in a tiny, cramped, two-room apartment with a shared bathroom, on the first floor of a multi-occupancy
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rooming house. He preferred to spend his hard-saved money on his passion - acquiring tumblers for his encyclopaedic collection - not on himself or his comfort.
Bob’s dearest and often-expressed wish was to keep his tumbler collection intact, as an educational heritage. He did not want it to be broken up and sold; he wanted it to be kept together as a whole, as his inspirational and educational legacy – “The Bob Smith Tumbler Collection” – for the purposes of learning, and for the benefit of future generations of glass collectors. If Bob had wanted, he could have sold his tumblers, to pay for advanced medical care, comfort and better living conditions, especially as his health deteriorated. Who knows, it might even have prolonged his life. But he didn’t – instead, he was fiercely determined to keep his collection intact. He knew he was dying - he was visited twice a week by a nurse and given what he described as "enough pills to run a hospital". His emails to us in 2016 had made us weep as he wrote “I don’t go out anymore, it’s even very painful to go up and down stairs – the nurse visits me a couple of times a week” and then, as his health deteriorated, he agonisingly lamented “I can no longer walk on my own”. Later, Bob became bed-ridden, frightened and confused. We were distraught when we read Bob’s final email to us in 2017, shortly before his death, in which he said “I have not been in touch with you for these last weeks because my brain was somewhere else. I couldn’t remember a single thing about using the computer. At 87 years suddenly my mind had stopped working. I could cry. i will try my best to keep to keep in touch with you.” Shortly afterwards Bob was dead. 
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One of the windows in Bob’s tiny apartment, where he was
surrounded by shelves packed with his tumblers. We took this picture when we visited him. |
As we have explained, Bob had given his tumbler collection to Glen, and we gave Bob our solemn promise to take care of it and keep it together, in accordance with his clearly stated wishes. In Bob’s own words “No one is going to be able to collect such a large collection again – they are just not out there”. It was never to be sold. It was to be his legacy – a celebration of his life and work. He died, trusting and believing this ... but in distressing circumstances, the tumbler collection was removed from our control. We were prevented from fulfilling our promise to Bob.
The next chapter of the story – the sale and the brutal dismemberment of Bob’s entire collection in June 2019 – is tragic. It is the absolute opposite of what Bob always told us (and many others) that he wanted. It feels to us like complete disrespect and disdain for Bob’s dedicated work and his personal integrity. We tried to prevent it - we were raised to believe in high personal, moral and ethical standards; standards that we cannot reconcile with the shameful denial of Bob's enduring wish that his legacy collection should be preserved intact for future generations. It makes us wonder how anyone can sleep at night, having profited from this debacle.
And Bob … can dear Bob ever Rest in Peace, now?
The next chapter of the story – the sale and the brutal dismemberment of Bob’s entire collection in June 2019 – is tragic. It is the absolute opposite of what Bob always told us (and many others) that he wanted. It feels to us like complete disrespect and disdain for Bob’s dedicated work and his personal integrity. We tried to prevent it - we were raised to believe in high personal, moral and ethical standards; standards that we cannot reconcile with the shameful denial of Bob's enduring wish that his legacy collection should be preserved intact for future generations. It makes us wonder how anyone can sleep at night, having profited from this debacle.
And Bob … can dear Bob ever Rest in Peace, now?
Don and Connie Moore
Don Moore was a much-respected Carnival collector and writer, who had sadly passed away in 1991. His wife, Connie, recorded a series of interviews for NetworK, facilitated by the late Dale Matheny, about Don and Connie’s collecting experiences. We featured them in four issues of NetworK in 2000 and 2001, along with some of Don’s previously un-seen cartoons. Our all-time favourite was the Brownie Mary story, that we re-visited in our NetworK ezine #2 (2015). Here is another delightful story told by Connie, that was in our printed NetworK 27 in 2000.
Don Moore was a much-respected Carnival collector and writer, who had sadly passed away in 1991. His wife, Connie, recorded a series of interviews for NetworK, facilitated by the late Dale Matheny, about Don and Connie’s collecting experiences. We featured them in four issues of NetworK in 2000 and 2001, along with some of Don’s previously un-seen cartoons. Our all-time favourite was the Brownie Mary story, that we re-visited in our NetworK ezine #2 (2015). Here is another delightful story told by Connie, that was in our printed NetworK 27 in 2000.
“Food for Thought” based on narrated tapes from Connie Moore, NetworK 27, 2000
Let’s first turn the clock back to the mid-1970s, when Don and Connie were living in Alameda, California. People would often call Don up offering glass for sale. One day he took a call from a lady in San Jose who had some Carnival she had decided to part with. Not a large collection, mind you – just a single Grape and Cable punch set, Don made all the necessary arrangements and he and Connie drove the thirty miles or so to San Jose, finally locating the lady’s condo in a delightful residential complex known locally as “the villages”. As they walked inside, they were greeted with the sight of a stunning, master Grape and Cable punch set, complete with twelve cups, sitting resplendently on a table. The colour was an extraordinarily beautiful purple.
Let’s first turn the clock back to the mid-1970s, when Don and Connie were living in Alameda, California. People would often call Don up offering glass for sale. One day he took a call from a lady in San Jose who had some Carnival she had decided to part with. Not a large collection, mind you – just a single Grape and Cable punch set, Don made all the necessary arrangements and he and Connie drove the thirty miles or so to San Jose, finally locating the lady’s condo in a delightful residential complex known locally as “the villages”. As they walked inside, they were greeted with the sight of a stunning, master Grape and Cable punch set, complete with twelve cups, sitting resplendently on a table. The colour was an extraordinarily beautiful purple.
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The history that accompanied the punch set, however, was even more extraordinary. The owner explained that it had been in her family for as long as she could remember. As a little girl, she and her sister had lived in New York, where her parents had a bakery store. In the shop, on either side of the entrance door, was a window – and majestically displayed within each window alcove was a Northwood master Grape and Cable punch set – one of which was purple, the other marigold. Every morning, the girls’ parents would fill the two punch bowls with delicious cookies – a different kind for each set. When their regular shoppers made their (usually weekly) visits to buy bread, the customers’ children would be allowed to go to the punch sets and take a cookie … one from the purple set and one from the marigold set. Throughout the long years that the punch sets remained in the shop, delighting many children, not one chip or bruise ever marred their surface. |
1911 Butler Brothers catalogue extract, featuring Northwood’s Grape & Cable master punch set.
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Grape and Cable master punch set,
courtesy Seeck Auctions. |
The children had treated the glass with respect and care – well of course, it DID provide them with tasty cookies. Years later, when the sisters grew up and moved away, each agreed to take a punch set. Of course, when Don and Connie were offered the beautiful purple one, they took it home and treasured it for many a long year (perhaps sometimes wondering about the little hands that used to reach in and take out a cookie).
The children had treated the glass with respect and care – well of course, it DID provide them with tasty cookies. Years later, when the sisters grew up and moved away, each agreed to take a punch set. Of course, when Don and Connie were offered the beautiful purple one, they took it home and treasured it for many a long year (perhaps sometimes wondering about the little hands that used to reach in and take out a cookie).
The Middle Years
In 2001 we said farewell to the last printed issue of the NetworK journal (No. 32), although we did issue a NetworK Special on Czech Carnival.
The workload from researching and writing our Schiffer hard-back books and our emerging (and growing) e-books, was intense. We also devoted a huge amount of time to our position as Education Advisers for the (now defunct) wwwcga club, while Glen spent untold hours researching and writing as joint Mailing List editor for the wwwcga daily mailing list – finally stopping in 2014 a year or so before the club folded. Over all these years our own website, Carnival Glass Worldwide, grew and grew as we shared our discoveries and information with an expanding international audience.
In 2001 we said farewell to the last printed issue of the NetworK journal (No. 32), although we did issue a NetworK Special on Czech Carnival.
The workload from researching and writing our Schiffer hard-back books and our emerging (and growing) e-books, was intense. We also devoted a huge amount of time to our position as Education Advisers for the (now defunct) wwwcga club, while Glen spent untold hours researching and writing as joint Mailing List editor for the wwwcga daily mailing list – finally stopping in 2014 a year or so before the club folded. Over all these years our own website, Carnival Glass Worldwide, grew and grew as we shared our discoveries and information with an expanding international audience.
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Also, during that time, we had laboured intensively and ceaselessly for a UK club, and in September 2010, they had asked us to take over the editorship of their newsletter. They had not given us advance notice of it, and although we were already working flat out, we agreed to help. We hit the ground running, and we gave it our all for the following six years. Frequently researching and writing seven days a week, we laboured intensively as Newsletter editors, often under great pressure to meet disorderly deadlines. However, growing personal, family reasons made it impossible for us to carry on in a situation involving such unplanned time limits. After six years of innovative, ground-breaking input, we handed over the editorship in early 2016, subsequently having to leave the club in which we had been active for over 30 years. We close this chapter with the same words that we used in 2001, (when we closed our early printed NetworK journal) – with a list of all those who had helped and contributed since 1994. We feel that today’s readers might enjoy looking at the names that we listed back then, in 2001, some of whom are sadly no longer with us.
From NetworK 32, 2001 We wish to pay tribute to the many people who have helped us in so many ways during the past 8 years. Special thanks go to Joan Doty, for her constant support as well as her wonderful contributions to articles. Heartfelt thanks also, to our family. Our most sincere thanks to: Joan Doty, Bob Smith, Howard Seufer and Marty Seufer, Frank M Fenton, John & Frances Hodgson, Connie Moore, Alan Henderson, Miss Betty Robb, Marie McGee, Dave Doty, Siegmar Geiselberger, David & Mary McKinley, Susan Haddad, Dick & Dolores Sage, Jim Nicholls, Rita & Les Glennon, Mahavir Jain, Kaisa Koivisto, Janet & Alan Mollison, Dale Matheny, George Thomas, Ruth Herrington, Lance & Pat Hilkene, John & Margaret McGrath, Carol Sumpter, Ray & Jean Rogers, Peter Phillips, Ian & Barbara Williams, Margaret & Gary Workman, Jose & Derek Ordish, Marilyn Redfern, Dave Cotton, Janet Dickson, Enid Andrews, Fred Stone, Val & Bob Appleton, Nigel Gamble, David Malick, Maureen Davies, Sue Foster, Carl & Eunice Booker, Pat Thornton, Fiona Melville, Gale Eichhorst, Bob Bishop, John Britt, Chuck & Marge Kremer, Tom Mordini, Stan Hoegerman, Jackie Poucher, Dave & Amy Ayers, the Texas Carnival Glass Club, the San Diego & Southern California Carnival Glass Club, Kathy & Harry Habberley, Tom Little, Mike Brown, Martin & Jan Hamilton, Karen McIntyre, |
The cover of NetworK 29 in 2001. The two outside vases are Brockwitz Curved Star in blue and marigold. The two middle ones are Eda Glasbruk’s Dagny vases, also in blue and marigold.
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Diane Rosington, Betty Laker, Simon Murray, Pearl Foster, Joe & Merilee Rice, Elgia Myers, John Kerr, Norman & Marian Bates, Joyce & Bobby Seale, Peter & Janet Rivers, Doreen & Brian Lapthorne, Don Atkinson, Heather Symons, Bev Franzen, Duane & Norma Uusitalo, Don & Dawn Pyle, Alan Heywood, Wayne King, Ruth Clarke, John Roberts, Don Kime, Nola & Keith Schmoker, Margaret Hudson, Steve Maag, Sam Williams, Rachel & Dave Sargeant, David & Coral Rose, Jo Campbell and Inez Holcomb Plum, Roy & Charlene Heiger, Bob & Faye Allaire, Terry & Elaine Andrews, Johanna Billings, Dick & Durban McGregor, Joe Bonnefin, Terry & Jan Ricketts, Wayne Delahoy, Terri Stauffer, Lee Markley, Richard & Beverley Gibbs, Peter Beebe, Bernard & Helen Sheppard, Mary Hare, Joan Farrant, Tom Finney, Charles & Eleanor Mochel, Sylvia & Gordon Pope, April Duncan, Joe & Danette Fuhrer, Bill & Sharon Mizell, Maurice Breward.
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NetworK rises again like the Phoenix
In June 2015 we launched the Premier issue of our new, FREE, Carnival NetworK ezine – distributed via email. We had spent a few days the previous month at a peaceful and very beautiful place in Devon, called Hope Cove. One evening, as we watched the sun set over the distant hills, we reminisced (over a glass of wine) about our original launch of NetworK in 1994. The name of the place where we were staying – Hope – was very inspirational and joyous. It felt right, it was the way forward, we would re-launch our NetworK journal in the form of a free ezine that could be sent everywhere, all over the world. Totally devoted to Carnival Glass. We set out our aims and our mission, in our first issue of the NetworK ezine. Our key objective from the very start of NetworK in 1994 was to provide a focus for education, facts, breaking news and discoveries about Carnival Glass worldwide - revelations that we researched ourselves, and crucially, revelations that fellow Carnival enthusiasts around the world have generously entrusted us to publish and share. And of course, we have covered a multitude of Carnival topics, including amazing new discoveries of both old Classic as well as Contemporary Carnival.
50th NetworK ezine And now here we are in 2019, with our 50th full issue – not forgetting the nine “Specials” that we have sent out since June 2015. Our subscriber list has grown hugely and we send our ezine all over the world. The aim of Carnival Glass NetworK is very simple: to share our passion for Carnival Glass with collectors worldwide. We strive to bring Carnival Glass to life and show it in a way that may not have apparent before. We aim to help collectors look at their glass through the eyes of the people who made it, marketed it, advertised and sold it, and the customers who bought it at the time when it was originally being made. Facebook NetworK Group October 2016 On 22nd September in 2016, we created our Carnival Glass NetworK Facebook Group, intending to work on it and make a public announcement shortly. Six days later Glen had a nasty accident and broke her ankle badly! The Facebook Group remained dormant. Karma? Actually no … karma works in its own mysterious ways, as many will discover. Although initially our life was disrupted (not to mention the pain Glen was suffering!) but after a couple of weeks, the enforced rest Glen endured meant she had more time to sit in an armchair and work on the internet. On October 24th 2016, we posted the message shown in the screen shot below, inviting everyone all over the world to come and join our new group. |
The view from Hope Cove, where we made the decision to re-launch our NetworK journal, in 2015. The very first new NetworK graphic was based on that view.
The re-birth of NetworK, as a free electronic magazine (ezine), totally devoted to Carnival Glass.
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In the almost three years since we started our NetworK Group it has proved to be a huge success. The membership has surged massively and is now nearing 9,000 – and countries all over the entire world are well represented, which means that the Group is active and busy with posts 24/7, every day of the week. We are very fortunate that the members of our NetworK Group are so sharing and caring in their approach – their enthusiasm and passion for Carnival is so clearly felt around the world. We also have many distinguished and experienced researchers and collectors among our membership who selflessly share their knowledge. The vital importance of the group for Carnival Glass has been underlined time and time again by the emergence of previously unreported pieces and information. We then tie our ezine and FB group together, with joint features and research articles about the previously unreported items. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the members of our NetworK Group for their overwhelming generosity in the way that they share their photos, their stories and their expertise. You are all stars. |
Carnival Glass Worldwide
Last, but not least - our own website, Carnival Glass Worldwide, which we compose, run and maintain ourselves. The three elements of our Carnival Glass world - our website, our Facebook Group, and our NetworK ezine - all work together seamlessly!
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The entire focus of the website is a celebration of Carnival Glass itself: the makers, the patterns, the colours and the stories that surround Carnival from the time it was made, right up to the present day. Carnival Glass Worldwide is packed full of information, presented with a fresh, “clean” look”. Makers of Classic Carnival have their own “homepage” to provide a focus for all the information on the website about that maker, and their own Gallery of pictures of their glass. Below is a screenshot of a section of the Fenton homepage, showing the links to all the Fenton articles and features to be found elsewhere on the site. 
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By maintaining the site ourselves, we can ensure a speedy response to anything we are told by collectors and researchers around the world. We also decided from “day 1” not to get into prices or values – there are other sources elsewhere on the web, and we believe that the past auction results on the websites of Seeck Auctions and Burns Auction Services give a very reliable view of the current market.