Artistry in Glass

08/11/2026

38 years restoring glass, and the #1 question I get is still: "Why won't vinegar clean my cloudy vase?"

If you have a cloudy piece of glass or crystal that vinegar won't touch, stop soaking it. You're likely dealing with two completely different issues:

🔹 Hard Water Scale (Additive): Mineral deposits sitting ON top of the glass. It feels rough or chalky. Vinegar is only 5% acetic acid—heavy scale needs something strong like CRL Water Spot Remover (note: not standard household CLR) to dissolve it in minutes.

🔹 Permanent Dishwasher Etching (Subtractive): Microscopic pitting INSIDE the surface caused by harsh detergents. It feels completely smooth to the touch. No liquid cleaner can fix this because there's nothing on the surface to dissolve—you have to micro-polish it out using Cerium Oxide slurry on a felt pad.

Before assuming a cloudy piece is ruined, run your fingernail over the surface to see which issue you have!

📖 Read the full diagnostic guide with my step-by-step photos here: https://medium.com//how-to-fix-cloudy-crystal-stop-wasting-time-on-vinegar-89d684f0a736?sk=557073dbd748d61b4bc0c0819f4cdc6e

What's the stubbornest piece of cloudy glass in your collection right now? Drop a photo in the comments and I'll help you diagnose it!

03/28/2026

Search Medium for John Wakefield to read this essay

03/11/2026

02/28/2026

Life on the road with Diogenes: A visual diary of sunsets, rocks, and the space between. There’s a certain kind of peace that comes with studying the ground you stand on. . Check out the full travel gallery at the 🔗 Link in Bio!

02/28/2025

Tiffany Windows in Flagler College, St Augustine, FL - 79 stained glass windows in the very impressive Flager College dining room are reputed to have been designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany and are widely promoted as some of the earliest in-situ examples of the great glass artist's work.
The upper, arched panels depict the flaming cauldron in the Spanish Renaissance style whereas the lower panels are geometric rectangles characterized by tightly packed amber circles. When I questioned the student guide she told me that the circles were made of beer bottle bases! I challenged her by suggesting that she had just made this up, to which she replied "oh no, these windows are lower and more vulnerable to vandalism so Mr Tiffany used beer bottles which can easily be replaced if broken".
Stained glass experts will immediately know that this answer is wrong on many levels - the amber circles are hand-blown, art glass "rondels" that differ from beer bottle bases in having an annular (ringed) texture and thickened centers - quite distinct from beer bottles with concave bases (see images).
A more interesting question is whether these are really "Tiffany" because they are made, using the conventional leaded glass method, in 1884 years before Tiffany purchased the patent for copper-foil glass from Sanford Bray. (Copper-foil is the method that characterises Tiffany's famous lamps and windows). They also appear to predate the incorporation of the first Tiffany Glass Company in December 1, 1885.
My view is that these Flager windows were designed by Tiffany in his capacity as an Interior designer - a career that preceded his immergence as a glass artist. I susoect that they were commissioned by Tiffany not made by Tiffany Studios.

02/09/2025

Giant sloth and images from John & Claire in Florida

02/09/2025

We explore the great state of Florida - from Pensacola to the Keys, through the Everglades and Little Havana, to South Beach, Coral Gables and Fort Lauderdale. Stay tuned as we head for St. Augustine.

09/28/2024

I record my talented, 80-year-old, brother-in-law, Alan Cotterill, cutting loose on the cornet at the legendary Birds Eye Club in downtown Grimsby:
https://youtu.be/TrjIDNUy6zk?si=zbPjMXBoN-3Aymw9

and follow up by posing with beloved cousins Glynis and Paul - together with their amazing mum (mom) - my 95-year-old (Auntie) Doreen.

09/10/2024

plus ca change ….. on the multicultural Paris Metro every single passenger under the age of 60 is unable to resist checking their cell phone.

09/06/2024

John Wakefield attends a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 in A minor conducted by Simon Rattle at the historic Royal Albert Hall in London. He also admired the imperial splendor of the Albert Memorial in a typical English drizzle.