• Lyudmila [she/her, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      30
      ·
      20 days ago

      Uranium Glass!

      Interestingly, not available in this aesthetic, since the US banned the use of uranium salts and production ended in 1958. Most examples are from before that, and were typically depression glass pieces.

        • Lyudmila [she/her, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          16
          ·
          20 days ago

          Most was pre-war. The US government put a huge amount of effort into covertly redirecting uranium salts and ores for the Manhattan Project without clueing people in to the fact that they were doing something weird with it. At the time, it wasn’t really a useful element for any industrial processes other than “idk it makes glass a fun color I guess” and wasn’t heavily mined as a result.

          • Carl [he/him]@hexbear.net
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            20 days ago

            In the 90s the US dropped regulations and some uranium glass is still made today, albeit not as large glassware pieces anymore. Despite the name and the association of uranium with radiation, uranium glass is only negligibly radioactive and totally safe (assuming they didn’t put any lead paint on it).

            • Lyudmila [she/her, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              3
              ·
              20 days ago

              Yeah! They do make it again, but I just haven’t found any more modern pieces that I actually like.

              I used to have a floral pattern plate from the 30s that I found while thrifting, but one of my professors was a nuclear chemist so I gifted it to him.