Wednesday, August 12, 2009

The “Kilner” Jar


In an earlier post here (Kilner paper) and HERE, I gave you a glimpse at what’s involved in getting my art onto a piece of old paper, and it always starts with – the paper. I purchased this piece on eBay from a gentleman named Tom Caniff after finding out that although there were no glass fruit jars listed as line items on this billhead, the primary business of the Kilner Brothers was to make jars for the preservation of food of one kind or another. Mr. Caniff also sent me a picture of a Kilner jar, but it was simply not detailed enough to use as a model.

The company had been doing business since 1857, and a Kilner (John) was making glass storage containers beginning in the year 1792. When John died in 1857, his sons took over the business. They continued to make glass containers until at least the turn of the century when many small glass firms were merged to create the United Glass Bottle company and the patents held by the Kilners were purchased.

With the help of a long time collector of canning jars, Larry Munson of Devon, Montana, I was able to portray the “Kilner” jar they produced. My last Paper Treasure Hunt and Photo Expedition involved a trip to Larry's for an afternoon of filling my camera with photos of over seventy varieties of fruit jars including the photo I took of the Kilner jar in the previous post that I used as a model for this piece.

12 comments:

  1. Stunning work Dave. I'm on the trail!

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  2. Really wonderful finish - such luminous glass!

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  3. Lovely, Dave. I retract my idea of leaving the lower right unfinished and fading off into over 200 years of history. I do like the idea, though -:)

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  4. Chuck,

    I really considered doing as you suggested - and I just acquired several pieces of paper, all from the same company called Illinois Pacific. I intend to put one of their glass preservative containers on them, and I think a faded image may be the best option for at least one of them. The name of the glass jar which is embossed on them is EVERLASTING. I can already imagine EVERLASTING fading out.

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  5. Some great work here on the blog. Have enjoyed my first visit, after Chuck Pefley told me about your work.

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  6. Dave, this is exquisite! I'm sure it would shatter if you dropped it. Though you are very good at everything you do, your GLASS is in a CLASS all by itself. I'm glad you have more glass paper and eager to see what you do with Everlasting....
    As for me, I'll be filling glass jars with homemade peach jam this weekend..think Kerr.

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  7. Love where you've taken this one Dave. Aren't all those reflective surfaces a pain to deal with. This looks great!

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  8. Wow! This is fabulous! I've just found your blog (via Pignouf from Vintage Poster), and I love your work.

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  9. turned out terrific!...do you paint these
    or are these done in photoshop?
    either way they make a great piece!

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  10. Mary - they're done with colored pencil. I don't know anything about Photoshop except that folks use it to produce electronic art for the web. Not that it might be a great tool, but I'm comfortable with producing one-of-a-kind pieces on paper that I have no intention of reproducing.

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  11. My god, are you saying you drew and colored this jar with colored pencils?! Un-freaking-believable.

    Am new to your blog and joying your work very much.

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