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In downtown Corning NY, the history of the town is summed up in this sculpture
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We came specifically to visit the Corning Museum of Glass. Took us two days. Much beauty follows. . . .
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In the entrance hall, a massive Chihuly creation . . .
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The new contemporary design wing is largely monochromatic . . .
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The "Glory Hole" is used by blowers to keep the glass molten, and is mimicked in the museum's logo (lower left)
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Anytime we can see glass blowers in action, we're hooked . .
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They were making a unique piece of glass art as the designer looked on . . .
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Do you see gentle breezes? Floating feathers? Music? We do . . .
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It's named "Constellation". Can you find your sign in the stars?
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Judy's personal favorite - a glass dress.
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"Forest Glass" - a bunch of glass shelves with a bunch of glasses found at yard sales. From a distance, you see trees. Up close, the glasses.
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You gotta wonder how some of this is made
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That's just creepy - but impressive.
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Everyday objects assembled into a representation of a blood sugar molecule . . .
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Not a soft ride . . .
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That's fun . . .
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"Oil Spill Platter" - a study for a more elaboate work.
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This contraption whirred and clunked and clanged all through lunch . . .
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Some of these works of art even make Al look petite . . .
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It's hard to photograph transparent glass against a white background. This represents an out-of-body exerience
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Hot glass for the masses - Celebrity Cruise Lines has installed glass-blowing studios on three of their ships.
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Dale Chihuly made this using a special pink glass - it was commissioned by the company that made the glass.
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Glass panel by Rene Lalique in 1932 for the entrance of Wanamaker's Depatment Store in Philadelphia. It's the largest known piece of Lalique
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Emile Galle was another masterful French glassmaker of the late 19th century
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Another piece of Lalique
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"Atlantica" - 300lb cast glass sculpture made by Steuben for the 1939 New York World's Fair
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The museum houses over 1,000 glass paperweights, and they're all displayed
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They're called "millefiori" - literally "thousand flowers" - and are incredibly complex to make
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This one is more feathers than flowers
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This one is a paperweight within a paperweight. All the large facets are ground magnifying lenses . . .
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It's a 100lb paperweight named "Megaplanet" - the largest glass paperweight in the world.
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Somehow you never associate Edison with glass blowing
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The image is a micro-mosaic - thousand of little pieces of colored glass.
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In this closeup, you can see the glass pieces that make up the image - as many as 1400 pieces per square inch
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A beaded basket from Indonesia. The beads are, of course, glass . . .
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The dining table is glass, as is the centerpiece it holds.
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That's a glass armonica, a musical instrument invented in France and popularized in this country by Benjamin Franklin
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How about a glass flute? This one's Fremch and dates to 1814
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That's a Crystallaphone, from about 1830. You play it like a xylophone
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Flameworking is the art of manipulating heated glass to make things.
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She's making a small bird figurine.
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Took about 20 minutes
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That big round thing is the first attempt at casting the mirror for the Mt Palomar telescope. They built the museum around it . .
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A Swiss phyicist studying water found that light would follow the water stream. Somebody else tried it with glass. 100 years later - fiber optics was born
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Part of a machine that makes optical fibers - you can barely see the strand
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The Fresnel lens acts as a light amplifier, making the light appear brighter.
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Fresnel lenses like this one were widely used in lighthouses . . .
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This display represents the various colors of pyrex bowls as they cool down after being cast - hottest at the top
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Cut glass became very popular in the early 1800's. These goblets show the cutting process
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English glass beadwork from the mid-1600's. "Accomplished ladies" strung the beads on wire to make the baskets
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These are trick glasses. Unless you know the trick, you'll get wine on your shirt.
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Natural glass - the glass-like skeletons of the Glass Sponge.
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Glass has been artistically crafted for thousands of years. This platter dates to around 1000 B.C.
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It's whimsy!
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Stained glass originated in Egypt in the eight century A.D.
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These pieces are Roman, dating to the 1st century A.D.
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These bottles were found in Israel near an old glass works, and date to around the first century A.D.
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This Egyptian glass dates to around 1400 B.C.
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The beads are glass, the flowers faience. The Egyptian necklace dates to around 1300 B.C.
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These are Roman, dating to the 3rd century B.C.
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These Egyptian carved glass items date to around 1400 B.C. They're very small - less than an inch tall.
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More beadwork, this from Germany and dating to 1989
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These bowls are made from thousands of fused glass threads.
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Chihuly's nesting bowls are one of his trademarks
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Harvey Littleton developed a technique of fusing different types of glass into one sculpture.
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More glass furniture, including some neat chandeliers.
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Think what it took to cut that skyline around the rim . .
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This huge work was commissioned by the museum to celebrate their new building in 1980
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This artist manipulates softened glass sheets by hand to create sculptures like this one
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This Museum shop is probably unique in the whole world.
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Frederick Carder led Steuben Glass from starting in 1909, and created some spectacular designs
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This gallery shows one of every Carder design. Judy's in a rainbow!
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Many of the glass types and colors were created by Carder
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This color is called Gold Aurene - the first new glass color developed for Steuben by Carder
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Lots of Carder's creations were intended for everyday use . . and looked good as well
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Carder worked in glass for 82 years - right up to his death at age 100
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Novelty glass items were very popular in the 1920's
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The Museum has a Junior Curator program, where kids get to pick pieces for display. This is one such pick . .
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Here's another Junior Curator pick
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We stumbled upon this treasure . . .
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Glenn Curtis was only in the airplane business for 12 years, but he certainly left his mark . . .
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That's a sculpture of the "June Bug", which Curtis designed and flew in 1908
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Curtis started out repairing bicycles, but soon moved up to motorcycles
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The painting depicts Curtis piloting a dirigible powered by a Curtis engine - in 1907
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Also in 1907, Curtis built and drove this motorcycle to 136.36 mph - a speed record that stood until 1930
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Doesn't have anything to do with Curtis, but it looks like fun
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Now THAT'S a sidecar!
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Judy tries her hand at a half-size replica of a 1912 Curtis pusher . . .
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Curtis' most famous plane was the Jenny - this one dates to 1917
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This is a flying replica of the 1912 Curtis Model D "Headless Pusher"
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The 1911 Triad was the first amphibious plane, the frst dual-control trainer, and was the first purchased by the US Navy.
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The museum's working replica first flew in 2004
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The 1919 Model 18 "Seagull" was the first seaplane intended for civilian use. It wasn't a commercial success
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Nothing to do with aviation - but that's an 1861 hair wreath, built from lots and lots of human hair. Kinda neat in a creepy sort of way
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This awesome 1974 Harley is handmade entirely from wood - took the craftsman 1500 hours
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The 1919 Curtis Oriole was a 3-seater - passengers up front, pilot in the back - and the first plane ever to land at Estes Park CO
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An exhibit on women aviation pioneesrs featured Blanche Scott, the first woman in the Americas to fly a plane (1910)
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She was also the first female passenger in a jet plane in 1948.
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She was also the first female aviator to get her own stamp . .
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This was her 1916 Willys Silver Knight roadster
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In 1921, Bessie Coleman became the first licensed African-American pilot - male or female. She got her stamp in 1995
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Curtis had retired by WW2, but his company made lots of Warbirds
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After retiring from aviation, Curtis dabbled in many things - including these "Travel Homes".
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The musuem has an active group of volunteers restoring old aircraft. This one's a 1919 Curtis Fledgling . . .
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It'll look something like this when it's done . .
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In 1919, the Curtis NC-4 became the first airplane to make a trans-atlantic flight.
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This reproduction was completed and flown in the fall of 2007. This man helped build it, and is one of only 6 people certified to fly it.
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In Port Clinton OH, this flowering bush delighted Judy
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The blossoms were really pretty . . .
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The RV park was home to lots of Killdeers. Beautiful birds, but you couldn't get very close.
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And the Canada goslings had hatched, and were busy discovering the world
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Kind of neat the way the parents would usher their young hither and yon
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We saw a half-dozen family groups - gaggles? - in the park
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Now we're in Wilmington OH, and lots of airbags deployed just down the road from the RV park . . .
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We went to lunch at a Culver's tucked in near the base of this unusual WLW-AM radio tower
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Luther Pierson said we had to go to the Voice of America museum. It was closed. And so is this slideshow