Cloud Glass is a decorative form of glass where trails of a dark coloured glass are added to a base of light coloured glass. When compressed in the mould, these dark trails form a random and beautiful pattern in the finished object. The random nature of the process ensures that the decoration on each piece is unique, thus turning simple pressed glass into an inexpensive form of 'art' glass.

Cloud Glass was first introduced in 1923 by the Gateshead glass Manufacturer George Davidson & Co. The first colour introduced was purple cloud, which was reported to imitate Alabaster. Over the next 10 years new colours were introduced: blue, amber, red, orange and green. Most production of Cloud Glass by Davidson ended before the Second World War. Amber cloud, which was the most popular colour, continued to be sold into the mid 1950s. In the late 1950s Davidson introduced Topaz-Briar for a short period of time.

Other manufacturers of Cloud Glass include August Walther & Sohne of Germany, Brockwitz, Reich, Sowerby and James Jobling. Walther marketed their Cloud Glass under the trade name of Oralit. They made Cloud Glass in a large number of Colours including Sepia, Topaz-Violet (Malachit, Violet, Pink and Butterscotch. Walther made Oralit from 1932 until 1940. Brockwitz and Reich made limited amounts of Cloud Glass in the 1930s. All known Brockwitz Cloud Glass is Amber Cloud.

Two other North Eastern glass manufacturers, Jobling and Sowerby, also made Cloud Glass. Jobling produced a small range in Tortoiseshell Cloud Glass in the late 1930s. Sowerby made some Purple Cloud Glass in the 1960s and recently an example of Amber Cloud appeared on the Ebay auction site. There are still some examples which cannot be positively attributed to any manufacturer.

The majority of Cloud Glass examples found at antique fairs consist of flower bowls in Amber Cloud. These flower bowls would have a round flower block inside in either a matching Cloud Glass colour or in black. Many of the bowls would have a black or matching glass stand. It is however often difficult to find a flower bowl that is complete with flower block and stand.

From the menu on the left you can read about the various colours of Cloud Glass and also view the Cloud Glass made by the individual companies. The web site aims to create a complete catalogue of all known Cloud Glass.