Swan Song

Derek & Ann McNaney

$27.95            

Chapter One

THE HISTORY OF ALTAGLASS

The founder of Altaglass, John Furch, was born in 1896 in Cukmantl, Czechoslovakia and was an officer of the German Social Democratic Party. This organization was loyal to the Czechoslovakian government during the sombre days of the Munich conference. John Furch would have been one of the first victims of the Nazi reprisals following the occupation of the Sudetes. The local official of the Nazis who sought Furch shortly after the occupation, having heard Furch had fled, said dis­appointedly " We would have had a special place reserved for him". (Calgary Herald, August 21, 1954).

In the late 1930’s, John Furch, his wife and daughter, Margarete, were helped to England by the Czechs and British. His son, who remained in the Sudetes to com­plete an apprenticeship, was eventually drafted into the German army and killed dur­ing the war on the Russian front. In England, Furch worked on a farm for a year, but when war broke out he resumed his previous occupation of welding, then quickly switched to glass making at Nasing Glass Works near London. In 1942 he became foreman in a new glass plant in Yorkshire, England. Two years later he returned to the Nasing Glass Works and remained there until 1949 when he emigrated to Canada with his wife, daughter Margarete, and son-in-law Leslie Stagg whom Margarete had married in England. Stagg was to later play an important role in the running of the Altaglass business.

The Furchs, their daughter Margarete and son-in-law Leslie Stagg, first worked for the Glass Guild Company in Stratford, Ontario. This company only produced glass buttons. According to Margarete, time was also spent working for Chalet glass in Cornwall. John Furch began looking for further opportunities in the glass industry and after having talks with the Medicine Hat Chamber of Commerce he was lured to the city because of the inexpensive natural gas. Apparently Furch found he could run his furnaces in Medicine Hat a whole month for what it would cost per day in Ontario.

In April 1950 John Furch, Les and Margarete Stagg established Altaglass in Aircraft Hangar 3 at the Medicine Hat airport, using $20,000 of rented equipment from Medicine Hat Pottery. Besides his glass working abilities, Furch was also an engineer, blacksmith, and welder. Presumably this combination of trades enabled him, eventually, to design and make all the glass blowing tools, furnaces, kilns and annealing oven or lehre. Furch was also responsible for mixing the glass during this period whilst later Leslie Stagg, who learnt the techniques from his father-in-law, also shared responsibility for this. The only products made in this period were swans and buttons. John Furch soon went on to experiment with fishes, and modified his designs as may be seen in the photographs by comparing the shape of the mouths.

In 1961 Altaglass moved to more spacious premises at 613 - 16th Street, S.W. in the industrial area of Medicine Hat. Here, over the years, John Furch worked with glassblowers from many different countries and made numerous different items. These are eagerly sought after today. John Furch must have been a man with a remarkable constitution, as it is recorded that he never had a day off from the time he founded Altaglass until his retirement in 1971.

PHILOSOPHY

The philosophy behind Altaglass can best be summed up in Margarete Stagg’s words, "I don’t think anyone could make more than four to six pieces in an hour and preserve the quality. You have to ensure glass items are safe with no sharp edges and if you try to hurry you lose the precision and detail. Consequently for Altaglass the possibility of mass production does not exist". Small Business Quarterly Summer 1984. This philosophy also is the underlying reason as to why the products are highly collectable today.

THE GLASSBLOWERS

The following are glassblowers who worked for Altaglass throughout its duration. Others were employed but no documentation has as yet been found.

Herman Bruckdorfer, from Czechoslovakia, was one of the original makers of swans along with John Furch. He later went on to make assorted animal figurines.

Alex Duesterhoeft worked for Altaglass from the early to the late 1950’s. He originally made swans but later went on to make other animal figurines.

Josef Takacs, from Hungary, worked from 1958 to the mid 1960’s specializing in gob­lets. These appear to be rather scarce today. He also produced small animal figurines. Mr. Takacs left to go to Calgary and it was here that he founded Continental Glass.

Manuel Esteban, born in Spain in 1911, began working in a glass company at the age of nine. In 1958 he, his wife, and two sons, emigrated to Calgary, Canada. He began working for a glass fac­tory in northeast Calgary, but when this firm went out of business he joined Altaglass in 1960, and worked on many different pieces until 1976, when he retired.

Francisco Ribas, nicknamed "Cisco", also born in Spain, began his career in glassmaking at the age of twenty-five. He, together with his family, emigrated to Canada where they accompanied the Esteban family to Calgary. Here he was employed at the same glass factory as Manuel Esteban. Subsequently he was made redundant at the same time. The two men, who were friends, both applied for the same position which was being advertised by Altaglass. Both were interviewed by the Altaglass Company with the result that both were offered employment. This deci­sion resulted in an expansion of the product line. Previously, where only one oven was in use, now two were working continuously, with a third used as a standby should one of the others need repair. Ribas retired at sixty-five, but found retirement not to his liking, consequently, when Margarete Stagg heard he was washing cars to pass the time she promptly offered him his former job.

Manuel Esteban Jr. worked part time for Altaglass. He assisted John Furch with his celebrated paper­weights. Eventually this young man created his own penguins, and elongated baskets.

Luigi A. Pezzillo, an Italian glassblower, worked for Altaglass for six months in 1972 before leaving for Richmond, British Columbia to start his own glass firm. He spe­cialized in dogs, penguins, and clowns.

Daniel Vargas, was born in Mexico, and came from a glassblowing family, beginning his trade at the age of 11 years. He emigrated to Canada when he was 25 years old and was employed by Mariposa Glass in Victoria, British Columbia. This firm closed in 1978 and Vargas became unemployed. Altaglass obtained his name and he worked for them for two weeks in 1980 making, as he recollects, mostly vases and art glass. He gave too low wages as his reason for his short stay at Altaglass. Vargas then went to Maple Ridge, British Columbia, eventually establishing his own glass company Artevargas, which he still successfully operates today.

Charles Sinclair was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, but from six months of age was brought up in England. He began work in the glass industry when he was fif­teen years old. After working at various glassblowing jobs in England and the Bahamas, Charles Sinclair emigrated with his wife and two children to Medicine Hat.

Before emigrating he was advised to apply to the Dominion Glass Company operat­ing in Redcliff, just outside Medicine Hat. Unfortunately for Charles Sinclair, but fortunately for collectors of glassware, Dominion Glass only mass produced bottles and glass containers, so they referred him to Altaglass, where he applied for a position.

All his glass work, until he joined Altaglass, was lamp or bench work. This is the use of borosilicate glass rods and tubing which are manipulated with the aid of various tools to the required shape. Lampwork can also be performed with soft glass rods. Both borosilicate and soft glass objects are limited in size according to the size of the rods being use. Lampwork is sometimes referred to as ‘Pyrex’ or ‘Duran’ but these are simply brand names for the materials used.

Up to this time he had had no experience of furnace work which basically is the gathering of molten glass and blowing and manipulating it into various shapes. Nevertheless, because of his experience in glasswork he was hired and in April 1980 began work with Francisco Ribas who had returned from retirement and was work­ing as a part time glassblower. Apparently it was an amicable partnership. Charles Sinclair recalled that he learnt a great deal from this man, for example, he reminisced that when moulds were used there were no mould marks left on the vases and bowls. The marks do not exist because the glassblower was blowing and twisting the piece whilst holding it in a metal clamp that would give it its’ characteristic shape. As a result of this technique there would be no pontil mark either. The pontil mark would be visible on mouth blown pieces without the use of moulds.

He also remembered that he enjoyed working with Ribas on furnace work in the morning and alone on lamp or bench work in the afternoons. Charles referred to Ribas as ‘a great worker’.

Another of his recollections was of Les Stagg Sr. spending a good deal of his time grinding down the bases of glass pieces with the rather primitive apparatus avail­able. Sinclair thought it was an unenviable job. The finish was like frosted glass which lent itself readily to engraving. Margarete Stagg was mainly responsible for the engraving process which is now a source of great interest to Altaglass collectors. Sinclair also mentioned that he was always concerned about the presence of a tub of arsenic on the premises. This element was used in the preparation of milk glass. Sinclair stated that he made many different pieces in furnace glass and he also intro­duced sharks to the product line.

In 1981 Ribas retired permanently, leaving Sinclair as the only glassblower employed by the firm. It was December, 1981 that the furnaces were shut down, ostensibly for repair. Unfortunately the government chose this time to introduce the National Energy Program. The result was a tremendous increase in the cost of natu­ral gas and also in federal taxes. This was the primary reason for the permanent shut­ting down of the furnaces, although Margarete Stagg gave ‘an abundance of stock’ as another reason. Sinclair then turned his full attention to the making of borosilicate articles. One cannot be too complimentary about this work, at times extremely complex, beautiful­ly shaped and wonderfully life-like. The following list is but a fraction of borosili­cate pieces produced by Charles Sinclair:- pedigree dogs, moose, small birds, sailing ships, motor bikes, wishing wells, golfers, curlers, wedding cake ornaments, roosters, reindeer, and Christmas trees. For a more extensive list see the value guide. Sinclair did mention that many of the borosilicate pieces were too small to put stickers on. So successful was the work of Charles Sinclair that he remained employed by Altaglass until 1988 when the firm finally closed its doors.

Margarete Stagg did still sell some Altaglass from her home and did look around periodically for premises from which she could sell the remaining stock. Although Sinclair is adamant that he did not mount any of his lamp glass onto rock, pieces of his work were sold this way, as apparently Margarete did arrange some groupings onto rock and slate, since they were more readily saleable.

GLASS PRODUCTION

The main ingredients of the soda glass produced at Altaglass were silica sand from Ottawa, Illinois, and Winnipeg; soda ash, from Amherstburg, Ontario, and potash from Niagara Falls. The actual proportions of these ingredients were deter­mined by John Furch. A new mixture was prepared in the afternoon and placed in the large melting pots then immediately in the white hot pot furnaces to avoid contami­nation. It was heated throughout the night at 2700 degrees F. The silica sand, potash and soda ash together with other chemicals such as iron, copper, cobalt, manganese, and arsenic, which acted as colourants, resulted in liquid glass called "metal". This flint, or soda glass, was less expensive to produce, but nevertheless Altaglass workers were very proud of the quality of their glass because it was freshly made every day, and no recycled glass product was ever used in it. A few leaded glass batches were produced, but items made from these were generally too expensive for the targeted market. The glass company created products in fourteen clear and opaque colours. It is understood that Altaglass was the only Canadian company making its own milk glass for the production of certain pieces.

The production of pieces

The following information on production is drawn, in part, from an interview given by John Furch to Dushan Bresky of the Calgary Herald, August 21, 1954.

No matter what the technique applied might have been, each product was shaped from quantities of liquid glass gathered by a four foot long gathering or blow iron. Degree by degree the solidifying glass was shaped with large metal tweezers, a wet wooden spoon, and a special form, into the desired shape. During the process the working mass was kept soft and red hot by continuous warming in the furnace glory hole. For the production, for instance, of a stylized swan, which was a fast selling dec­oration all across Canada, Mr. Furch would "gather" a glob of glass, and shape it into a circular glass cake on a metal table. This cake was pressed against a wire form resembling a wire lamp shade frame. If at this stage, further process was discontin­ued, the resulting form would be an elegant bon-bon dish, or a large ashtray. To shape this star-shaped form into a swan, one of the tips was pulled, with the tweezers, into the swan’s tail and the opposite one was welded with a cylindrical stick of glass "gath­ered" by Mr Furch’s assistant. This stick was pulled and bent into a graceful neck. The head and beak were stylized with two nips of the tweezers, and the eyes were sug­gested with two touches of a thin, red-hot rod of darker glass. The hot product was cut off from the gathering iron with special scissors and placed in the annealing kiln where it would be gradually cooled down.

To produce a blown glass and moulded vase, wooden moulds, designed by John Furch, were initially used, but these tended to wear out quickly so metal ones were ordered from England. These were used until furnace work was discontinued.

For a vase, the blown glass batch was softened by adding more potash and soda. It was "gathered" with a metal tube or blow iron, and blown into an oblong bubble. The bubble was then shaped in a cast iron mould into a glowing vase. During all stages of the process the blower had to rotate the iron. To blow the glass bubble in the heat radiating from the furnaces required quite an effort, and hundreds of fine drops of sweat developed on Mr. Furch’s forehead, which formed into a large drop on the point of his nose when­ever the glass bubble reached a respectable size. The vase-to-be had to be plunged several times into the fur­nace to be kept glowing, but the blow iron had to be kept cold with water so that the blower could hold it with his hands and his mouth. The finished vase was placed into a 45 foot long cooling oven called a "lehr". Over a period of several hours, ranging from two and a half to twenty-four, a conveyor belt would transport articles through the kiln as the temperature would be gradually decreased. Another method was to shape the liquid glass cake in metal forms with a hand press. A pressed product had also to be gradually cooled down. The base of each product had to be perfectly horizontal and polished. This was achieved by wet grinding and polishing wheels. (See photos in section on grinding) Altaglass turned out about $100 worth of merchandise every day, and in their peak period, used about 500,000 cubic feet of gas per month to produce this. This merchandise consisted of hand made solid, blown and pressed glass products. Mention must be made of the pieces which came to be known as ‘lunchbox’ items. Competitions were held during lunchtime on a given theme, this resulted in ‘one of a kind’ items and some­times in an addition to the manufacturing line.

The company did not meet with any noticeable Canadian competition in markets throughout Canada, yet they had to keep their prices extremely low because of foreign competition. Rapid development of the plant was not possible because of the high labour cost and the lack of qualified crafts­men. For the same reason, production of expensive cut, etched, or engraved crystal glass could not be considered unless there were large orders to be filled.

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