Neusole Glass Blowing

So we are back again. This place was so cool, I knew I needed to share it. We took our Girl Scout Junior Troops to Neusole to see a demonstration and let each girl make a glass flower. What was the demo?? They made a Girl Scout Snow Man!!!! It had badges and everything! So cool. I told the guy who talked us through their demo, "You know I have to buy that now. How much are you going to charge me for it?" We will see when I pick up the flowers what they say about it. What a great time! Afterwards? We took our Big Boy Halloween coupons and our 13 Girl Scouts to our local Big Boy for kids meals. All around, a good time had for all.

There is so much to be learned at this trip, and so much to build on at home. For instance, sometimes they use wooden tools and newspaper to help form the glass. They soak them in water so they don't burn under the heat of the glass. Why does water stop them from burning?? It reminded me of the experiment that we did a couple years ago (and plan to do again soon to drive this point home) when we filled a small balloon with water and lit a candle. When placed over the lit candle the balloon didn't pop. Water absorbs all the heat so the balloon doesn't absorb it. In fact if you hold the balloon there long enough you can even boil the water.

Their ovens that they heat the glass in while they work it are at 1900 and 2000 degrees. The room gets very hot while they work. And the propane ovens are very loud. They have to really speak up for us to hear them talk.

When a glass object is made it must go directly into a cooler which is really a heater. The heater starts at 900 degrees and cools slowly. If the glass were to sit out and cool to room temp it would crack for cooling too quick.

So much more. There is tons to learn from this day. Hopefully a seed was planted somewhere.