We had been thinking of visiting the Corning Museum of Glass, ever since I realised it was just 2 hrs drive from our place. We were just waiting for the weather to get a bit warm. So we thought the Memorial Day (May 28-30, 2011) weekend was just perfect. It would be a day-trip, and still would get 2 days to do our usual chores around the house.
We set off by 8.45 in the morning. We got there by 11 AM, took the tickets to enter the museum and also for the Sand-blasting. We had reserved the spots or the sand-blasting the previous day(and had the receipt for the payment made), but had to redeem those for the actual tickets. We rushed to do the sand-blasting as we had the booking for 11.20 AM.
There were many other stuff you can make and do with glass. But the Sand-blasting was the only one for which you get your masterpiece the same day. They had all the art studios in one section of the museum. The sand-blasting was a fun activity for the kids. After all of us were asked to wear special glasses, we sat down to work on our masterpieces. We were asked to apply stickers on the glass/ bowl of their choice in whatever order or pattern we liked. They had all the choice you can ask for, in stickers, and also tapes. My elder son decorated his glass (with some help from me) and I decided to decorate my younger son's glass (as he was too young to do that).
After we were done decorating the glasses with the stickers and tape, the helper at the desk took the glass to the sand blaster which would do the task. I held the hose through which the sand would come out with such immense force and speed. The glass was held by the helper and in no time, all the areas except for the spaces which had stickers were all frosted. They treated the glass with some chemicals and washed it and handed it over to us in 2 minutes. I helped with my elder son's glass and my husband with my younger son's.
After the sand blasting, I perused all the lovely creations in display cases. Some of my favourites are below.
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| A pond with Swans |
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| A burger, and fries on the side |
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| The Globe |
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| A berry-plate |
We then spent some time in the Frederick Carder Gallery:
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| A toiletries kit |
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| Candle-stand set |
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| The entire case |
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| Jade Utensils |
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| Elephants: in different semi-precious stones |
Some pictures from the special Exhibit: East meets west
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| A crystal Pagoda |
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| Fine China |
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| Chinese style Cameo Vase(from 1890) |
We had lunch at the restaurant inside the museum. Food was fairly priced and tasted good. From the Mac n' cheese for kids to the fancy ratatouille, they had a wide range of food items too.
Saw one Flame-working Demo. It was really interesting, how the different techniques create various patterns and shapes on the final product. It is truly amazing!!! We had watched a similar show at a glass factory long back. After you visit such places, your entire perspective about the various glass pieces you come across in your daily life really changes. You will see how much pain and effort have gone into each one. The kids were getting bored, and so we decided to skip the rest of the shows.
The Glass Innovation Center had lots of hands-on things.
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| A structure made of ceramic bowls |
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| The entire thing |
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My younger son through a looking glass
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| My elder son |
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| Inside the museum |
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| Their store,from the top level |
The store had lots of lovely things. I was really confused as every piece was beautiful. From the cookware to the glass roses, glass beads to glass jewelry, they have everything.
I finally ended up buying all of these.
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| Giraffe Earrings |
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| A blue pelican with a fish |
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| A crab |
These were a few of the exhibits near the front entrance, as we were getting ready to leave.
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| A fruit-platter |
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| A glass cat |
Overall, it was a good trip. There was not much for really small kids. But for older kids.... there are some interesting things to see. Definitely worth a trip.
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