Please help me find more of these boldly lettered Old Fashioned glasses

April 2, 2012 11:01 AM

I have this Old Fashioned glass with a bold, matte black letter printed on it. It's 4" high and 3 1/4" in diameter. The bottom has bumps the size of smallish marbles. I have a suspicion that it was carried by Crate and Barrel in the 70s or 80s, because my mom has one too, and my family got a lot of decor from there when I was a kid. I'm looking for more, specifically a J or an M for my wife's birthday. (She loves having her initials on things.) Any ideas?
posted by hydrophonic to home & garden (13 answers total)

you can probably buy some of these, then get some glass paint, and make a stencil from whatever font you like with some card stock. easy schmeasy, and you can make as many as you want.
posted by koroshiya at 11:18 AM on April 2, 2012

also, i tried to get as close as i could to your description of the glass - unfortunately, your picture is blocked for me at work.
posted by koroshiya at 11:23 AM on April 2, 2012

Not the same (or nearly as fun), but similar, and you can get glassware paint to make the initial black.
posted by Mchelly at 11:27 AM on April 2, 2012

I'm still searching, but you could possibly try Things Remembered or Engraving Creations.

Or, an Etsy artist who would do a custom job...

The hiccup here is that large, black letter (I love it!). I'll keep looking.
posted by Falwless at 11:28 AM on April 2, 2012

My guess is that that monogram was silkscreened onto the glass, which was very popular in the 1970s as a technique, and has now fallen out of favor compared to engraving.

The monogram isn't engraved, right? It's just a thin layer of paint or ink on the surface of the glass, like on a coffee mug that's printed with the name of a business or whatever?

The Google is not helping me find anyone who's doing this work commercially with glassware right now, so you might need to have it done as a one-off.
posted by Sidhedevil at 11:37 AM on April 2, 2012

More DIY: You can buy clear contact paper/frisket/a sheet of mylar and spray adhesive... heck a computer printout and spray adhesive to use as a stencil. Cut out the letter with an x-acto knife. Then use glass etching cream. Easy peasy.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 11:38 AM on April 2, 2012

It looks like this etsy shop will monogram an old fashioned glass with whatever art you want.
posted by fingersandtoes at 11:40 AM on April 2, 2012 [1 favorite]

Oh, yay, fingersandtoes! "Screen printing" was the search term I should have been using, not "silkscreening".

The letter on yours looks like a custom variant of Clarendon BT to me, but I am not the best at fonts.
posted by Sidhedevil at 12:06 PM on April 2, 2012

I have seen glasses very much like that, maybe the same series, with other letters, at thrift shops over the years.
posted by caclwmr4 at 12:13 PM on April 2, 2012

I love a good craft project, and these are good suggestions, but I should have emphasized that I'm looking for the actual glass.

...at thrift shops over the years.

I thrifted the one one I've got, but I haven't had such luck since then.

My guess is that that monogram was silkscreened onto the glass / "Screen printing" was the search term...

Yep, it's printed, not engraved. It's very durable printing, too. A little scuffed from years of use but no other wear on the letter.
posted by hydrophonic at 12:44 PM on April 2, 2012

I'm still searching, but you could possibly try Things Remembered or Engraving Creations.

From Engraving Creations, it looks like the glass is a Nob Hill Double Old Fashioned, so that's something.
posted by hydrophonic at 12:59 PM on April 2, 2012

Not the same shape, but here is a J glass mug
and these F glasses look similar so maybe keep checking Etsy (I searched "letter" restricted to vintage, housewares, glass)
posted by rmless at 5:33 PM on April 2, 2012

My parents bought a set of these in the 70's near Oxford England (which i inherited), and i saw identical ones in a department or drug store there about a decade ago. They were available in every letter of the alphabet, apparently unchanged in design in the past 30 years.

Note: do not put them in the dishwasher. Mine all now simply say "".
posted by dirtron at 6:44 AM on April 3, 2012