Glass Museum

Last week, Brynn's school sent the 6th graders to Camp.  This is a tradition around here, I guess.  To state it short & simply, girls & boys and adult strangers spending 5 days & 4 nights together are not our definition of a trustworthy & safe environment.  So for months, we've been looking forward to having Brynn home for this week & spending time together on our own adventures here in the NW.

One day we spent in Tacoma.  We went to the Glass Museum.  The girls love art and were interested in seeing how the glass art was made.  The exhibits were interesting.  Mostly boring to the girls, but there were a few interesting pieces that caught their attention.  There are no cameras allowed in the exhibits, so I don't have any pictures.  A favorite piece is a Dragon Fly.  It's 3D and made of noodle looking glass.  It gave it a very "light" appearance and was amazing to look at.  It was probably 4x4 feet.  It was beautiful.

One piece I took the time to explain to all of the girls was an exhibit with various containers made of glass throughout the last 100 years.   There was a whiskey bottle, a kind of canteen, and a good old fashioned Coca-Cola glass bottle.  I pointed out how thick the bottom of the Coke bottle was and compared it to Terry's glasses.  Terry didn't know that was where I was going with it.  It was funny!  Now the girls know what we're talking about when we say dad wears Coke bottle glasses.  History is very important.  Nowadays, everything is made of plastic. 

When we were finished wondering around, we went to the Craft Room.   This is a place where families can participate in the craft of the day at no extra charge.  It was Clay Day.  We had fun putting our master pieces together and baked.   I could take pictures in this area:

Then we went into the Live Demo Studio to watch a team of artists work on a piece.  We don't know what they were trying to make.  They didn't say while we were in there.  But it was the most interesting part of the museum.  There are huge furnaces  that they slide the glass ball in and out of many times throughout the process.  It's very hot, but it was amazing to see how they worked the huge ball, shaping it, powdering it to add color, and continue to lift it in & out of the furnace.   We ran out of time to see what the final Art Piece was supposed to be.  Maybe it is a vase?  What do you think?