Western Thistle vases

The term "as moulded" is often used to describe vases that have not been "swung", and is used particularly in relation to vases from Carnival Glass makers outside of the USA.

However, whilst "as moulded" can mean that the vases are shaped exactly as they came out of the mould, this is not always the case - as shown by the range of shapes in the Riihimaki Western Thistle vases above. These vases were all made from the same mould, and only the one in the centre left, which is 5" tall, is "as moulded" in the sense that its shape is the same as when it was taken from the mould. All the other vases had some hand finishing to produce a wide range of different shapes. Not only good for Carnival Glass and vase collectors, it also made good business economics for Riihimaki, as they were able to produce a whole range of different shapes from the one mould.

In fact, Riihimaki actually made even more shapes from this mould than are shown here, and they were definitely in the line production items (that is, not whimseys). We show an extract from Riihimaki's 1927 catalogue in Carnival Glass The Magic and the Mystery (2nd Edition) which has a wide range of different shapes that were being made in Western Thistle vases.