The Skinny: Favrile Glass

Hi friends! I have just about a week before my orientation starts - in the meantime, I've been trying to explore as much of Cleveland as I possibly can. So far I've checked out the main branch of the Cleveland Public Library, City Hall, Nuevo at the pier development, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and the Cleveland Museum of Art! In the next few days I'm trying to visit the West Side Market, Merwin's Wharf, the Flats, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Greater Cleveland Aquarium, the Cleveland Botanical Gardens, the Great Lakes Science Center, and the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist.

Today I made it out to Lakeview Cemetery - home to the Garfield Memorial and the Wade Memorial Chapel! While touring the cemetery and these two points of interest, I came to learn about favrile glass, a technique favored by Louis Comfort Tiffany. Tiffany is a renowned artist and designer best known for his work in stained glass.

Favrile glass is different from other iridescent glasses because its color is not just on the surface, but embedded in the glass. Tiffany established this unique method of glassmaking: treating molten glass with metallic oxides that absorbed into the glass and created a luxurious iridescent surface effect. Here are some other snapshots from both memorial structures and the rest of the cemetery!