FEEL THE GLOW
All about this magical glass
Is Uranium Glass Jewellery Safe?
Uranium glass bead jewellery carries a quiet glow, an echo of light born from trace whispers of uranium within.
Its radiance is gentle, not dangerous, sealed safely inside the smooth glass that holds it.
The energy it carries is ancient and faint, a reminder of the earth’s deep alchemy rather than a threat.
Worn against the skin, it’s more charm than peril; a soft shimmer from another time, perfectly safe to keep close.
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The “Camalia” Unicorn
Every collector has a ghost story. This is the most famous one. Henry Greener’s works in Sunderland pressed some of the brightest uranium glass in England. Standard pieces carried a whisper of uranium, one tenth of a percent to two…
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The Resource Conflict
The glow did not fade. It was confiscated. By the 1940s, uranium glass sat on ordinary shelves. Kitchenware. Vases. Trinket trays, glowing softly green. Then the war came, and the governments came for the uranium. In the US, every supply…
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Scientific Standardisation
Some glass has a fingerprint, and scientists can read it. 🕯️ In the 1930s, James A. Jobling and his glassworks in Gateshead, England, took uranium mixing seriously. Routine chemical analysis. Trial melt after trial melt. All so his Jadeite range…
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The Glass Before Time
Before uranium had a name, someone was already using it. 🕯️ In a Roman villa at Cape Posillipo, on the Bay of Naples, a mosaic was laid down in 79 AD. The same year Vesuvius buried Pompeii. Its yellow glass…
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Murano Glass
In 1291 glassmakers were banished from Venice to Murano, where they guarded the secrets of their craft for centuries; they were so valuable, in fact, that they were not permitted to leave, and were held in such high regard that…
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Burmese Glass
The unique colour gradient of Burmese Glass is achieved through a single body of glass that contains both uranium oxide, which provides the yellow colouring, and a tincture of gold, which provides the pink colouring. In England, Thomas Webb &…
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Canary Glass v Vaseline Glass
Canary Glass was a commercial name used as early as the 19th century in England and France (verre canari) to describe the bright yellow glass produced by makers like Josef Riedel and English manufacturers. Vaseline Glass is a later nickname,…
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Vaseline Glass
The term “Vaseline Glass” refers to a particular kind of uranium glass produced by tempering the glass at high temperatures, giving it a distinguished texture and appearance; a pale yellowish-green or translucent yellow hue that matches the color of the…
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Uranium Glass in the Home
Over the years uranium glass has been used to create many everyday items, with popularity peaking between the 1880s and 1920s. It was commonly fashioned into plates, bowls, tumblers, and serving dishes, with specific varieties like “custard glass” (opaque pale…
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The Depression Glass Era
The Depression glass era is one of the most fascinating chapters in American design history. Running roughly from 1929 to 1939, manufacturers found a genius way to inject a little bit of color and joy into everyday households.
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The Unique “Glow” of Uranium Glass
The striking neon-green fluorescence of uranium glass is a purely chemical phenomenon. It is caused by ultraviolet photons exciting electrons in the uranyl ion, which then emit visible light as they return to their ground state. So that beautiful glow…
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What is uranium glass, and why does it glow?
Some secrets only reveal themselves in the dark. Uranium glass is glass coloured with a small amount of uranium, usually added as uranium dioxide or sodium diuranate. In daylight it looks ordinary enough, a pale yellow or yellow green, sometimes…
The Lore
What is uranium glass?
Uranium glass is glass coloured with a small amount of uranium, usually as uranium dioxide or sodium diuranate. It was made commercially from the 1830s until the 1940s, and the raw uranium came first from the ore-rich hills around Jachymov in Bohemia.
Under ultraviolet light it fluoresces a vivid green, because the uranium salts absorb UV and re-emit it as visible light. That is why collectors call it Vaseline glass, after its yellow-green tinge in daylight.
It is very mildly radioactive, far less than a banana in some cases, and perfectly safe to wear. What you are seeing is not paint or coating, it is the glass itself, alive under a blacklight.
Uranium glass is only one of the materials I work with. The others have their own stories: see The Stones.
Work with me
Commissions and custom pieces.
If you have a stone, a memory or a shape in mind, I take on a small number of commissions each month. The quickest way to reach me is a message on Instagram or through the Etsy shop.