Friday March 14 - Corning Glass Museum

Another lovely day in Batavia. It was a bit cloudy early on but then the sun came out and the temperature high was 41 F, it certainly felt a lot milder!

Marge, Irene's friend, came round at 10 am and we set off for the Corning Glass Museum, about 95 miles to the south west of Batavia. We arrived around noon and headed into the museum to eat our pre-packed lunch. After lunch, I purchased a Macchiato from the cafe!!

Our first port of call in the museum was the glass blowing demonstration. This was very interesting and made even more so as the guy who did most of the work was from New Zealand. 

I spoke to him after wards and he has been over here about 30 years coming from Hokitika a town on the west cost of the South Island. 

The demonstration was interesting for the information they gave out about the different types of glass and the way they work the glass to form whatever it is they are making. It is interesting to see the way they will add some glass for any extra parts, such as a base. 

All items that are made at the
museum are left in a special "oven" to cool down overnight.

We watched the complete process and as you will see from the photos, it was something beautiful from seemingly nothing!!


We then watched a glass breaking demonstration where she explained about the different processes of making glass and the stresses that can appear in glass if it is not cooled evenly. It is the stresses that can cause weaknesses in the glass so it will break.

We then had a wander round and saw some different exhibits including a feature about the Crystal Palace erected in London's Hyde Park in 1851. This building was the most magnificent glass and iron building ever constructed.

The area devoted to lens was very interesting especially the area which had part of a sphere of glass in the window and as a person walked towards it, they turned from upside down to right way up and it appeared that there was an object in front of the window!! 

There was also information about a Stepper Lens that is the most sophisticated lens system in the world and is made of fused silica. It makes it possible to print nearly 9 million transistors on a silicon chip about the size of a postage stamp.

One thing about molten glass is that it has been called the universal solvent. It will dissolve the wall of the melting tank and, depending on the quality of the glass, the tank will need replacing every two to ten years.


The original lighthouse lights were insufficient for the task as he light diverged until in 1822 a system that captured and concentrated the rays into a horizontal beam. 

It consisted of several thin lens each surrounded by a number of concentric prisms.

The most interesting exhibit, for me, was that about Optic Fibre. Optic Fibre is both strong and flexible and it would take 1,200 of the finest fibres to equal the size of one human hair! 

There was also a demonstration where we were shown how it works so efficiently. 

The light from a laser is sent down the fibre as a series of pulses reflecting ON or OFF (these represent 1s and 0s, the language of electronic devices such as the computer). 

The fibre is surrounded by cladding of pure silica, this keeps the light from escaping, and surrounded by a coating to protect the glass. 

The fibre will carry the pulses 125 miles before it need re-amplification, thus creating a very efficient system. 

At present, many people are still connected to the Internet by copper wire which uses electrical pulses and to carry the same amount of data that a strand of fibre will would take a six foot diameter circle of copper wires. 

Consequently, fibre is faster, carries more data and is more efficient that anything else and will provide the bandwidth that modern devices require.

It was interesting to find out that three cruise liners have Hot Shops on them and take Hot Glass shows round the world. 

As the gallery was closed we returned downstairs where glass art and objects by different artists are on display and for sale.

There was a sale on so some good bargains were on offer, most of the items were too large for me to contemplate!! 

I did purchase one small glass cat! There was an interesting machine on display where small rubber balls followed on a variety of tracks and played musical sounds in perpetual motion.

I did go to the Tacoma Glass Museum and this one was different enough that I enjoyed it as much as the one at Tacoma, and I learned some different things about glass!!

We then headed back towards Batavia and took a detour to have a great meal at the Red Osier in Stafford. 

The restaurant is well known for its prime rib, this is cut up and served beside your table from a special mobile servery. Other menu options are also put together at the table, for example, a table was having Caesar salad so it was put together at the table!!.

I had a half rack of the baby Pork Ribs and thank goodness I did not have the full rack!! As the menu said, the meat fell off the bones! Each of us enjoyed our meal and the waitress made it a fun evening, she obviously enjoyed what she did!!

We returned home and a beautiful full moon was out so the camera came out for one final time!! I had a wonderful day in good company.