Corning Museum of Glass: Learning to Make Glass

It takes seven hours (in mild traffic) to drive from Washington, DC to my hometown of Rochester, NY. Plenty of times I have seen the signs for the Corning Museum of Glass but my curiosity is always eclipsed by my desire to get home.  Thousands of miles away from Corning in Cancun, the curiosity was sparked again when I got to hear all about the museum at the TBEX Travel Blogger Conference. The director of public relations, Kim and I bonded over Western NY and travel blogging (check out her blog here).  After our meeting, baby glass pumpkin in hand, I was sold. The Dutchman and I decided we would make the visit to Corning a few weeks ago as we headed back home from Rochester.

Glass Pumpkin at Corning Museum of Glass Gift Shop

As we took the detour on the highway, we were impressed by how massive the Corning Museum of Glass is, nestled in a sleepy town in Western, NY.  We walked into the gift shop, which had an interesting selection of glass items from Christmas ornaments to large glass pumpkins to jewelry made by local artisans.  The shop is one of the largest museum shops in the United States and in my opinion one of the most diverse.

Art Made with Microscopic Tiles of Glass

The museum was quite crowded with a diverse set of visitors: Chinese tourists on their way to Niagara Falls, local families, and couples like us.  As we walked through the museum to the many exhibitions we were fascinated by something so essential that seems to be overlooked in our everyday lives: glass.  The exhibitions included works of ancient glass from the Romans and Egyptians to modern glass installations from modern designers such as Dale Chihuly.  The level of detail from modern to ancient was incredible such as the work made from microscopic glass tiles disguising itself as a painting. Truly makes you see glass in a different light.

After our museum tour, we took a private glass workshop where we tried our hand at glassmaking. We had a private class with a glass artist, Christa Westbrook. We loved how patient Christa was with us and how passionate she was about glass making.  She asked us to pick which project we wanted to make. Our options were a bowl, vase, pumpkin, or a flower.  I picked the bowl and the Dutchman picked the flower. We put on our safety glasses and had a safe handling class (oven is 2001 degrees F!). All geared up, we were on our way to becoming glass artists!  (If you’re intimidated by making your own glass, Corning Museum of Glass offers a demonstration with a skilled artist taking you through the process far away from the hot oven.)



My Bowl, Almost Done!

 We dipped our glass rods into the hot furnace to get the melted glass. It can be a little overwhelming as it is really hot! But we soon got the hang of it and got to work. The biggest challenge was to keep the rod moving for the melted glass (honey like consistency) not to spill on the floor. It was a beautiful process to see how a glob of melted glass can turn into a beautiful piece of art.  After our creations were made, it was placed in a special cooling unit and mailed to us the following day.  It was great to come home from work and have our creations waiting for us!

Learning at the Glass Marking Class

The verdict: We’re happy we had the chance to stop at the museum.  Western NY is a region of the state that often gets overlooked by New York City.  The nature along the Finger Lakes (Seneca Lake is only 20 miles way) is some of the most beautiful I've seen (the well traveled Dutchman can attest to that as well).  Not only can you explore the museum but head to the wineries (my review of Hermann J. Wiemer), explore the fall foliage, and indulge in the market stands along the country roads.

Seneca Lake, Finger Lakes, NY

Tip: The museum is free to veterans on November 9th to 11^th (in honor of Veteran’s Day) with 15% admission fee for their non-veteran party & 20% off gift shop purchases. Tip: make a roadtrip!  By car: 4.5 hours from Washington, DC, 2 two hours from Rochester, NY, 4 hours from NYC, and 2 hours from Syracuse, NY. For more information about the museum hours and general fees click here.