Glass Spiders

OK - So the title "Glass Spiders" has nothing to do w/what we did in Corning, but it has the word "glass" in it & is a really kooky yet cool David Bowie song & tour. I remember seeing him on this tour - at Vet's Stadium - and a big ol' glass spider hovered over the stage. And he did "Wild is the Wind" with Peter Frampton on guitar. And Squeeze opened for him. Squeeze? Yes. Squeeze.

Anyhow - I was supposed to post the pix of our 1st-day Corning art in 24 hours of about a week ago. Time moves slowly so quickly.
Without any further delay - check out what we made! First up are the boys' creations. Choddie's is the orange, yellow and red tear-drop globe. You will note that it maintains a position of prominence in his room on his cluttered dresser top. You can see his pack of gum atop his set of liquid-coolio pens, one of which sits just ahead of the delicate tear-globe. A trumpet lesson book leans precariously to the left of the tear-globe, as if to say, "Glass? Have ye taken the place of brass in the heart of Lord Chodsworth?" For a day, perhaps, yes, fair coronet - for a day. A day in Corning, New York.
Next we see Thompson's tear-globe. The Tugger chose purple, yellow a nd wipe as his glassy tones. His presentation area is only slightly less cluttered than that of his elder sibling. Note the mini Hess truck - still in the box, mind you (unopened? define unopened, nerd) and the gold-framed art behind the tear-globe. To the right, you can see the corner of a picture taken in Ocean City (NJ, not MD - how many times do I have to tell you that, Monica?)

Comments. Duh.

Duh. Or should I say, "Ah-doy, you duh-head"?
My friend Sarah pointed out to me that the reason we aren't getting any comments from her (and I'm sure from others) here at Egg's Adventure in Peanut Butter's Funny World (2 points to whoever can give the origin of the blog name) is that I hadn't disabled (or enabled (glass half-full or half-empty?)) the little do-hickey piece of blogger.com that allows for non-blogger.com type-people to add comments.
Well - as I say more than I probably should at my age - done & done. So please add comments. It's the only way we can keep score on this end. Oh yes, we're keeping score.
Also, please check out some of the links over there ->
...especially "et seq." & the "Ross-McLeod Family" - two excellent deals populated by good friends of mine, Dave & Brad. Fun for the entire family - maybe even the dog.

What the?

A brief respite from the Corning saga:

Apparently Wednesday was Give-Your-Teacher-Some-Candy-Too-Show-Your-Appreciation Day. So, on Tuesday night, Lisa took Thompson out to the store to pick out something for Ms. Collins. Thompson thought that giving the teacher an apple was a more appropriate way to show his appreciation for all of Ms. Collins' patience and hard work. The following is only slightly inaccurate because I wasn't there (so I paraphrase).

Mom: OK Thompson, pick out a piece of candy for Ms. Collins.

Thompson: I don't want to give her candy! I want to give her an apple!

M: Look, sweetie, this is supposed to be Sweetest Teacher Day or something like that. You're
supposed to give her some candy. They sent a note home.

T: I don't want to give her candy!!! I want to give her an apple! An apple!!! An APPLE!!!!

M: Thompson! That's enough! You are being a very naughty boy! And Mommy has had a rough
day! Pick out a piece of candy!


T: No!!! Apple!!! Apple!!! APPLE!!!!!

M: Thompson - you need to calm down. This is ridiculous. Pick out a piece of candy for your
teacher.

T: Mommy, you're bothering the hell out of me.

M: What?!?! What did you just say to me?!

T: I said, Mommy, you're bothering the hell out of me. Yes. That's right. I said "hell."

Through the Looking Glass (Looking Through the Glass?)

One the coolest things to do at the Corning Glass Museum is to get up close and personal with the stuff. After our recent trip, we've determined that no journey to Corning is complete without a visit to the Stuido that the Museum runs. For a small fee, you can participate in a wide variety of glass crafts.

On Thursday, we signed up to make a flower and some globes out of molten glass. It is really incredible to work with a substance that is pushing the 4000 degree temperature mark. Once you form the molten glass into the shape that you desire, the stuff is cooled at 900 degrees. The Corning Museum Studio must be a nice place to work in the throes of a dark, icy, Western NY February.

The kids each worked on globes. This involved collecting a mass of molten glass on the end of what amounted to really long, steel straws. The kids didn't do this - remember - 4 thousand degrees. The studio assistants took care of collecting the glass and dipping it in what I can only describe as "glass jimmies" - little fragments of colored glass pellets, added to brighten up the proceedings.

What the kids did get to do is one of the coolest things in the world: they got to blow the glass. It is a one of a kind feeling to take something in a raw, yet fantastically dangerous, state and essentially blow bubbles into it to create beautiful, solid works of art.

I had a slightly different experience in making a flower. Initially, Lisa was going to do this, but she insisted that I try it out. I told her I would only give it a shot if I could give her the final product, so the matter was settled. Lisa agreed to man (wo-man?) the camera.

To make a glass flower, you begin in much the same way you do to create a globe, but instead of blowing the glass, you pull it and squash it and mold it; with awesome steel tools. This was definitely my kind of art.

After we finished our projects, the studio assistants placed them in the cooling oven. If glass cools down too quickly, it places too much stress on the material and causes what I thought were actually pretty interesting looking spiderweb-like marks to creep through the piece. We had to wait 24 hours to see the final results of our efforts, so you're going to have to wait too I'm afraid. I'll post pictures of the final products tomorrow!