Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York
A lot of glass! – Corning, NY (Location)
During our short loop south of the Finger Lakes in upstate New York, we visited the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York. It is quite the place. Anything that you ever wanted to know about glass from its history to its use in modern day telecommunications and satellites is covered in its displays and live demonstrations of everything from blowing glass to breaking glass.
I used to build aquariums and can remember the first time back in the 60’s that I saw a 4 foot long piece of 1/4 inch plate glass begin to bend and thankfully not break. It was the first time I realized that glass could bend. In this museum, they describe how and why glass is able to bend and then go on to show glass that is far more flexible than anything that I ever worked with. Really impressive.
The Pyrex tower was also pretty interesting as it showed clearly the transition stages from clear glass to the final white Pyrex product.
In addition to being a demonstration center and hands-on training centre, the Corning Museum of Glass also houses 10’s of thousands of glass exhibits. Of course, I could look at or think of photographing all of the pieces on display but did photograph a few glass object that I found quite interesting.
