Frabel Glass (Crystal Fox Gallery)

More Information about Frabel GlassFrabel Glass Sculptures for your home, office, professional,corporate awards and trophies. There are many reasons for the acquisition of a Fräbel sculpture: these pieces are beautiful and
graceful, well crafted, very limited in supply. One of the implicit messages accompanying each sculpture is that of expressing excellence via excellence, e.g., you have excellent taste and, as a gift or an award, you wish to honor someone with a presentation which suggests that he or she has excellent taste through a sculpture which is made with excellence. Many high-tech companies now utilize these sculptures in their recognitional programs because these sculptures are entirely handcrafted via the techniques of sculptural lampworking, whereof the Fräbel Studio with its nine artisans is considered preeminent, and provides that hands-on aspects which helps us all remember that we are all human and able to do remarkable and excellent work.
Important Message!
All sculptures are created in clear, boron glass, or in a color glass which is compatible with boron glass. As a result, except in very rare cases, any damaged Fräbel sculpture can be restored without a trace of a break. The exceptions would be sculptures which are shattered or hollow work such as the vessel portion of goblets, and vases and clowns.
Prices subject to change without notice. Sometimes the artists have price increases and we are unable to get all items updated with these new prices immediately. If there is a price change, we will notify you by email should you place an order on an item that has not been updated.

Good News About Frabel Sculptures:
Boron Crystal Glass. All Fräbel Sculptures (except engravings) are fashioned
from heated boron glass (borosilicate). This glass was invented/formulated
during the early part of the 20th century. It is an unusually clear glass and has
been used for many telescope mirrors including the 200 inch mirror at Mt. Palomar.
The addition of boron into the sand in making the glass results in a glass which is light
in weight (much less than the more commonly used lead glass) and, perhaps much
more importantly, can be heated at one point while remaining cold at another point,
and indeed without breaking. This property arises from the effect of the boron additive
in the glass. Glass, like any substance, will expand when heated and contract when
cooled. Both soda/lime and lead glasses expand so much when heated that the
difference in the expansion of the heated portion and any unheated portion is more
than the glass can stand, and the glass will break. This thermal effect is greatly mitigated
with boron glass due to its very low expansion rate. This enables the Fräbel sculptures to
be made by heating portions of ready-made boron glass tubes and rods and shaping them
as desired into the various sculptures.
Restorations. An enormous advantage of the use of boron crystal glass for Frabel sculptures
is the fact that a broken sculpture can normally be reheated and the pieces rejoined, usually
in a way that totally disguises the break. Indeed, because of this character, the Fräbel Studio
speaks of "restoration" rather than "repair," for essentially a "new" sculpture is made, but using
the original pieces of glass and putting them back together in the same way that the sculpture
was created in the first place. Limitations include hollow pieces such a vases ornaments etc.
Cost of Restoration. The estimated average cost of a simple restoration is approximately $30 to
$40 with a minimum charge of $25 subject to change without notice at the discretion of the Frabel Studio.
If a piece requires extensive work for restorations, the cost could run much higher. Not all breaks
can be so flawlessly refabricated, but about 95% of all breaks do lend themselves to this treatment.
Limitations. Hollow pieces (vases, Christmas ornaments, etc.) cannot be restored, although some
breaks can be reworked into a different design, e.g., if the top of a vase is damaged, the top
portion can often be removed in the flame, and result in a very handsome vase, but which is shorter
than the original, and of a different design.
IMPORTANT NOTE FROM FRABEL STUDIOS:
Authorized Fräbel Studio Representatives
The Fräbel Studio consists at present of 9 glass artisans. Given this and the fact that the sculptures are all fashioned by hand, and thus that there will never be a large quantity of Fräbel's available, only a very few, select glass art galleries can be permitted to represent the studio. Presently there is only one:

California
Monterey
The Crystal Fox Gallery
381 Suite M, Monterey Plaza Hotel
Cannery Row
93940
Tel: 408/655-3905
Fax: 408/655-3926
Manager: Nancy Stokes
www.crystal-fox.com