Loretta Eby - Studio Art Glass

Witch Bottle

28.5 28.5 inches tall x 17 inches wide x 7 inches deep

The Witch Bottle Legend

According to the lore of early glassblowing Witch Bottles or Witch Balls originated in the small European glassblowing studios of the Middle Ages/Renaissance eras. From time tot time the glassblowers and apprentices would be called away to defend their various principalities or cities thus necessitating the shutdown of their studios. The last thing produced before departing would be a large, multi-faceted, gaily colored ornament. This was hung in the entrance to attract any "evil spirits" entering the studio. Being inquisitive by nature, the spirits would find the hole left in the ball, enter, and upon becoming disoriented by the reflections and diffractions, remain trapped within the container. When the glassblowers returned and refired their furnaces, the Witch Bottle would be thrown into the melting glass, destroying the entrapped evil spirits. Understandably, examples from this period are difficult to come by.

The tradition continued into the early 18th century in England and Spain where multicolored balls or bottles were made to be hung in cottages to ward off the evil eye".

(See "An Illustrated Dictionary of Glass" by Harold Newman p 347)

Contemporary American glassblowers have added their own wrinkle to the tradition. When a glassblower builds a new studio the first thing created is a Witch bottle. Other glassblowers, friends, relatives or whoever is on hand for the occasion all take turns bringing molten "bits" of glass from the furnace to the glassblower who attaches them to a base bubble on his or her blowpipe. The bits are worked into wings, fins, loops, etc, at the blower's whim or the suggestion of the helpers. The finished bottle then hangs in the studio to ward off evil spirits and inspire artistic endeavors within.

Loretta Eby's Witch Bottle Shrines are an extension of this tradition. While Eby actually makes each bottle, the helpers she orchestrates vary from relatives, visiting glassblowers, patron and even the occasional unsuspecting stranger who expresses an interest in "What's going on here?" Needless to say, no two can possibly be alike.