Plastic in glass
Notice there isn't a full head on that beer. That is something I'm able to do, but I think gives a false impression of what a beer really looks like as a prop. To further illustrate, here is a real beer with a full head and after it's been enjoyed a bit:
Beer in glass, full
That by the way, that is a real beer in glass.
Beer in glass, enjoyed
I like the half-full look. My wife saw me working on this one in the morning and accused me of starting too early:
Plastic in glass
But, there's something about that which strikes people the wrong way. I think it's dashed idealism. What say ye?
All of these are for sale.
21 comments:
Your foam needs more wave action, like the actual foam shown.
Foam Shown, ET!
Your foam needs more wave action, like the actual foam shown.
Some of them do! Foam is highly unpredictable to replicate. Sometimes it heaps, sometimes it falls like a souffle.
Thanks for the feedback!
It's perfect.
It strikes them the wrong way because it does not look like a pleasant last sip. Like the beer has already been enjoyed, and that's why it's perfect. It's disturbing. It's not pretty. It's "pick up the glasses time" and start a new round. Not, here's a new cold beer. People want the glass at least half full. They want their beer replications optimistic, not used up. It's a bit disturbing, a warm beer, toss it and pour another. I love the last one for its post-modern "been there, done that," drank it, through with it, aspect. The bit on the side of the glass is especially good.
Not the kind of thing you want sitting around on your table as ornamentation unless you never have that. Absence may make the heart grow fonder, but I have no idea.
I'm thirsty.
The last 2 are fantastic.
What say ye?
Order up another round!
Well done, chickelit! Fun comments too.
I'm more pleased with the process than discerning about the particulars of the actual result. To see something form from an idea into full and half glass empty reality is invigorating. The stuff of life! Invention at work in real time, of the kind you've written so often about others who've stood on the shoulders of giants or at different places on the ladder.
When my dad made glass eyes for the soldiers returning from WW2, he'd do hokey things in practice, like put a flag or a babe or a dollar sign in the pupil of the eye. Which brings out the hokey in me, wanting to do a double take at seeing something lost in the foam, like a tiny cell phone floating in memory of a tip in the drink and the lost I-phone/chirbits that happened around the same time these began to take shape.
They are awesome, in addition to being testimony to creativity, endeavor and persistence. A story for kids to pass on too someday. I spent time Sunday night with my grown son looking at the meticulous hand drawn pencil illustrations my dad did for his Botany Class in 1935, along with the 100 year old tree books he used as the basis for those illustrations. One of those illustrations will be embossed on a leather book being formed for a cousin's wedding. There's no way my dad could have known in '35 that what he was doing then would be passed on to another in a similar but different form, but that's what happened as part of the enduring legacy of human creativity. A faithful journey matters.
The bit on the side of the glass is especially good.
That's called "lacing" to beer aficionados. Some people judge beer by the quality of the lacing. Others judge the hygiene of the bar because you only get lacing with very clean and rinsed (no soap residue) glasses. I do my lacing by hand using a Q-tip. It's quite easy to overdo. Thanks for the constructive comments!
MamaM, how wonderful that you remember the stages of this (and the chirbits too). Of course I remember your previous stories about your father and his "aqueous humor."
Which brings out the hokey in me, wanting to do a double take at seeing something lost in the foam, like a tiny cell phone floating in memory of a tip in the drink and the lost I-phone/chirbits that happened around the same time these began to take shape.
A bug landed in a champagne I made and died. I had to redo it as it was for a retail display. But that reminds of a story. When I lived in Switzerland many years ago, I was out with a friend walking in downtown Zurich, on the Bahnhofstrasse. Now the Bahnhofstrasse is the Rodeo Drive of Zurich. James Joyce described it as so clean and well kept that you could eat soup off the street. Anyways, there was a Sprungli chocolate shop there with huge shop windows showing off all kinds of cakes and torts. We approached one window and we saw an enormous fly perched on a beautiful white frosted wedding cake. The insect was motionless but alive. Upon even closer inspection we could see its little feeding tube inserted into the frosting and its little abdomen was getting plumper and plumper as it gorged itself. We watched it for a while and tried to swish it away but the glass was too thick and we didn't want to set off any alarms. Had cellphones existed then, I could have made a viral YouTube video.
Great post, and serendipity makes it topical. Rheingold beer was a very popular NY beer back in the 50/60's. I drank a few hundred cases or more. They were the sponsors of the World Series bound NY Mets. A blue collar beer.
When the Twin Towers rubble was being cleaned up many old Rheingold beer cans were found. The beer had not been produced for decades, but steelworkers who built the Twin Towers would throw their empties into the building structure.
Nick, the cans were no doubt steel. Aluminum would have melted. Ask Rosie. Plus I believe that Coors was the first to use aluminum in the mid '70's.
They were the sponsors of the World Series bound NY Mets. A blue collar beer.
I'm going to make a "Milwaukee Series" including Pabst, Miller, Schlitz, Blatz, and Gettelman. I'm guessing what the SRM is/was for some of those extinct beers. But they were all American lagers and quite light.
@MamaM: Or was that his "vitreous humor"? :)
Aluminum beer can history --
Link
chick, Great lineup of blue collar Milwaukee beer. As you know, Pabst is still blue collar in small town bars in Wisconsin. It's always on tap. It is sad to see it become hipster beer, although the brewery certainly doesn't mind, I'm sure.
Great link, Allen. I chuckled when I got to the "pop top" era. Those were my first cans of beer. As a kid, before pop tops, I would see vendors @ Yankee Stadium use can openers. They would quickly put 4-5 holes in the can so it would pour quickly. Funny the shit you remember.
How times have changed, Nick. I know people around here who decided to try their hand at beer making. The biggest obstacle is what to put the beer into after they've brewed it. All beer bottles these days are twist off throw aways. No longer can you take your empties to the liquor store and get credit for the bottles.
My cousin used to make beer, lots of it, and he had cases upon cases of washed beer bottles, and he had bottle caps and a press that he sealed the beer bottles with. Now you have to buy gallon glass containers to use.
Allen, Home brewing is a big deal. There is a brew store on the eastside of Madison on Williamson St. that used to be a sewing store. Home sewing is dying and brewing is booming. Me, I just like regular beer, Miller, Pabst, Coors, LaBatts. I hate Bud. My son is into the Honey Wheat Oat Ginger Mango whatever the fuck they're making now. I do notice stuff. As I said, hipsters drink Pabst but only in cans, usually 16oz. cans. If they were to go into a corner tavern they would never get a tap Pabst. Maybe if it were in a Pabst glass. I hate hipsters.
People are probably getting interested in brewing, because there are new small breweries opening up all over.
The last one is especially great...a little too real, as in left over from the night before.
Thanks for the lesson on lacing, very interesting.
Are you thinking of creating a website? I think they'd make excellent party favors...the sky's the limit.
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