The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-03-16
A GARMENT OF GLASS.
A San Franciscan Manufacturing Dress
or Woven Glass. soft and PliRbIe.
[San Francisco Chrouicle.l

tSan francisco Chropfciel
In the large basement room Of the resi-
dence Of s. Isaacs, at No. 1894 Mission street,
between Tenth and Eleventh, is now being
woven the most wonderful fabric OF which
the vOlumn0us history Of unique feminine
apparel furnishes any account Ii Is the ma
terial as flexible as the finest Of silk and as
durable as Blue Jeans Williams favOrite stuff
for trousers, for a lady's dress, aud 1t Is being
woven by the world-renowned artist in glass
work, Prof Theodore GreineT, out OF innu
merabe colored strands Of glass first spun by
himself Compared with the c0mpleted gar
ment, the mythical glass slipper Of the fabu-
lOus Cinderella will sink into as vulgar an in
significance as an exhausted Napa soda bot
Ito. The professor Is native OF Bohemia,
and Is the lineal descendant OF noble
family Of glass blowers. His great
great grandfather. Adolphus Greiner, stood
head and shoulders above the profession in
his day; his great grandfather, Wilhemj
Greiner surpassed Adolphus 10 that he made
Rhinehart Greiner, was reckoned the glass
world beaten Of his age; and his father, Gus
tave Greiner, and his brother, Fritz Grelner,
are now In partnership In Chicago, and II Is
admitted by eminent medical authorities that
they have done more for the spread Of hom-
popathy by the exquisite way in which they
blow out those pretty little bottles for those
pretty little pills than even Hahnemann, the
handy man who invented the process. But
the father and brother followed the uttlitarian
paths Of working In glass, while the more
susceptible Theodore struck out la the Bsthe-
tic walks OF the profession. Seven years ago
$. Isaacs, then resident Of New Orleans,
and who has phenomenal eye for the beau
ties Of nature and art, had his attention at
tracted to the classic excellence Of the beads,
bugles, lamp chimneys, ornamental chan
deers and miscellaneous brio a-brac
constructed by Prof. Griener. They
to and fro In the world. In is73 they we're at
the Vienna International Exhibition, where
the professor out-blew all the other glass
blowers as decsively as q WashOe zephyr out
ranks dead calm, and where Mr.: lsaacs
challenged the whole world to produce his
equal. The same at the Philadelphia Cen
tennial During February and March Of last
year they had a store at No. 325 Kearny
street. where two perfectly working steam
engines, made entirely of glass, human an
atOmy Of glass, with glass veins, through which
representation OF the ebb and flow Of the
human blood could be seen, and the professor
himself at work, we're on exhibition, and daily
drew crowds OF delighted spectators. Since
then they have been travelling throughout the
Pacific slope. and about two months ago re-
turned here. where the professor immedia-
tely started In upon his great work. A Chr0n-
icte reporter called on him recently,
and he very courteously showed him the
entire process. Breaking an extra piece
out OF the soi-d bottom OF an already
broken lumber he submitted it to the heat of
blowpipe until 1t became incandascent and
soft. Then with "stick" OF glass he touched
the molten portion, and with an expert mo-
ton which may be decribed as flip, he car
ried q thread so fine that il was almost invisi-
BILE till 1t caught on the disc Of aslowly revolv-
ing wide wooden wheel OF nineteen feet cir
conference. At certain number Of revolu-
tons the strand was complete and the wheel
was stopped and it removed. It then con-
sisted ofinnumerable soft Rlistening threads,
finer than the finest OF floss silk These
strands are spun Of all colOrs and are then
washed in solution Of water and beet-rOot
sugar, which toughens them. The spinning
Is all done, and occupied many weeks. The
weaving is being done on an old-fashiOned
hand-Ioom, the warp being nineteen feet long
and the wool four feet, SO that the material
will cut to splendid advantage. Only about
ten inches day can be woven, and the whole
piece will not be completed until April 1t
Is Of that now extremely fashionable loose
and careless admixture OF cOlor5 known
as the Oriental. When the dress Is made
1t Is to be worn by young wax lady
with glass head, blown expressly for the
occasion by the professor, and profusely or
namented with blonde glass curls. The dress
is to be made with panier skirt, loop sleeves
and square neck. 1t Is to be beautified with
box pleating, and bound in blue. 1t was at
first intended to make 1t low-waisted. like
Louisa Lorne's. but a grave fear was enter
tanned that the indignant blood Of modesty
would mantle the wearers crystal cheeks
with bushes. and possibly melt her wax body
irremediably. When the dress and the wearer
are fully constructed they will be put on ex-
hibition Ia this city. At the coronation Of
Queen Victoria she wore dress the wool Of
which was OF spun glass, but the warp Of silk.
This was then thought to be the greatest
| triumph which could ever be accom- plished in
me glass business. In 1868, at Cincinnati,
Prol Grlenier spun and wove dress entirely
| q glass Tor which he vas offered $500, but
which offer he declined He was soon pretty
| s MI lor doing ~, for while he was taking
ne fractional currency ct the entrance door
1.e Visitors We're cutting small sections out
~ MS curiosity az souvenirs Of the occasion,
itCl y. th.'re was actually aothing left to ex-
The current feeling among thinking men in
ITeihany seems to be that however ablv