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Wednesday, June 12, 2013

America's Oldest Art Glass Factory

Summer is here and we were looking for something to do with the granddaughters.
Voted "Best Factory Tour in Indiana", the 
Kokomo Opalescent Glass Company is just 1/2 hour from home.
We had to check it out.
The tour was very interesting.
 KOG makes glass just like they did 125 years ago.  

 This is the furnace they use to make rolled glass, 
the colored sheets of glass used in stained glass.

 Workers scoop out molten glass from the furnace.
Each guy is scooping a different color of glass.

 He carries the 2600° glass glob to the mixing station.

 And plops it down.

 Another worker mixes the two colored glass blobs together,
 creating the colorful swirls in the finished glass.

He then pushes it between two large rollers which roll it out in sheets, 
like pie dough.
The sheets slowly cool as they ride down an enclosed oven.
KOP also makes blown glass objects.
 A blob of glass, called a gather, is heated in a furnace on the end of a blow pipe.
Once removed from the furnace the glass blower rolls and shapes the glob
by rolling it on a table,
 Or spinning it while it is balanced on the two boards and torching it.
 HOT!

Here one worker is blowing into the end of the pipe 
while the other spins the glob and keeps it the correct size.


It goes in & out of the furnace as the workers shape the glass.
Although it was very hot in the factory, the process was fascinating.
Some finished pieces.




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