Saturday- July 20- We finish up our week at the Pittsburgh Glass Center, our task this time is to make a glass Christmas ornament.  (see link) https://www.pittsburghglasscenter.org/about  The process for making this ornament was similar to that of Blenko (see previous post for June 6).  The steps involved using a blow pipe to get the molten glass, rolling it in colors and then reheating it and processing it into shapes.

Adding Color

       

  

blowing the shape

  

Reheating to maintain the right tempature

Artist come to the center and create works of art and also anatomical models of organisms.

Beside the shop where the glass is blown and shaped, the center also has a torch room where final touches can be made, and beads and other objects can be shaped, and a cold room where glass can be worked by polishing, grinding or cutting.

Friday-  We begin our day in Pittsburgh going to the Carnegie Museums endowed by the Pittsburgh industrialists Andrew Carnegie who made his fortune in the steel industry in the area. . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Carnegie  The museum is a wonderful institution for the city, and a great place to visit and learn.

One display is a recreation of what the coal swamp would have looked like.  These swamps were the materials for our vast beds of coal found in West Virginia today.  What animal is in the for-ground of the swamp? 

The Appalachians 300 million years ago.

In the Afternoon we went to Phipps Conservatory phipps.conservatory.org/ it was an excellent to see the many types of plants found here and around the world.  The exhibits display habitat from around the world.  You get to feel and smell what it would be like in an Indian tropical forest or a desert in the southwest all in one place.   

Phipps uses glass sculptures to enhance its displays. What extinct animal is represented in the picture below? 

Mosser Glass Cambridge Ohio

Thursday-  We leave wheeling and head for Cambridge Ohio to visit Mosser Glass.  Mosser was started by Tom Mosser in the 1960's making pressed glass.   Mosser makes wonderful pieces of glassware and also Medical glass equipment and specialty pieces like the 1927 Ford lenses being produced for a California car restoration business.  

Mosser Glass-  Heating edges of a pitcher to smooth it.
Show pieces made by Mosser

Mold and plunger at Mosser

In the pressed glass process, how does this work?  With your group research and find out.

Many of the molds used at Mosser are made in West Virginia.

Finished lens (see picture 1 )After leaving Mosser we head for Pittsburgh PA to check into our Hotel for the rest of our trip.  We will be visiting museums a conservatory.  Saturday we will be making glass at the Pittsburgh Glass Center. 

Pittsburgh PA

                                      The Monongahela and Allegheny join to form the Ohio  

Wednesday-  Today we travel up river to the very top of the Northern Panhandle.  We start the day across the Ohio River in East Liverpool OH which is across the Ohio River from Newell WV home today of Homer Laughlin China Company.  Homer Laughlin China Company started in East Liverpool and then in 1906 relocated its new factory buildings across the river into West Virginia because East Liverpool's development had filled all the available suitable land.  Anyway, we started in East Liverpool because that is the location of the Museum of Ceramics.

Many pottery factories started in East Liverpool in the 1820's because of its _________________ , the area had the Ohio River, Railroads, available clay and a willing workforce.  Most of the potters came from Stafford England mainly from the town of Stoke-On -Trent.  Potteries were very family oriented, often whole families would work a production line.  Because they were paid by piece work, family control made for efficiency thus more money for the family.

Replica of whole family working in a pottery- Museum of Ceramics. 

Many pottery factories were located in East Liverpool, including Homer Laughlin which as stated above moved much of its works to Newell WV in the early 1900's.  Laughlin's paternalistic tendencies toward his business and workers led him to build the bidge from Ohio to Newell, which the company still owns, and to provide water and sewer for the town.  People still pay their water bill at the factory.  Laughlin also provided free movies for the town and a zoo.  The zoo did not last too long.  Laughlin bought in a companion polar bear for the one he already had.  The companion bear was introduced to its mate in front of a group of school children.  Both bears were male and the horrified children looked on as one bear proceeded to maul the other to death.

The museum had a plethora of exhibits of ceramics from the area from the beginnings to modern times.

Video of the production line at Homer Laughlin

We then toured the Homer Laughlin factory in Newell.  Unlike many of the glass businesses we visited, this company is doing very well.
Why do you think this company is doing so well?

The company pays well and has employees that are 2nd, 3rd, even 4th generation employees.  Raw materials for china are many and come from all over the world.  Some are feldspar, silica, limestone, and calcium carbonate etc.  Many of the modern production lines are completely automated although workers take the finished product from the line and process it.

Raw Materials to make china

Between trips we went to the Point of Beginning.  The point of beginning was the marker for the geography line from which the obligations of the Land Ordinance of 1785 were started.  As you know from class, the land ordinance authorized the survey of the Northwest Territory that congress added to the United States.

What are some of the geographic differences between Ohio and Virginia (later West Virginia) due to this survey?

Tuesday-  Today we travel downriver from Oglebay Resort (Wheeling) where we are staying to Paden City which is on the border of Tyler and Wetzel Counties.  Paden City is home to the Wissmach Glass Company which started in 1903.  Unlike the other glass producers that we have visited so far, that facility produces stained sheet glass.  Like the other places that we have visited, this facility used furnaces to heat and melt glass cullet or they use the basic ingredients, soda ash lime and sand, to make molten glass.  Colors are created by adding certain ingredients like metals.  Glass is dipped from the furnace in iron ladles from two different furnaces giving the sheet its unique color.  No to sheets of glass produced this way is exactly the same.  The glass is poured from the ladles onto a metal table and mixed by two workers with what looks like iron stubby pitchforks.  Then it is raked by the forks into a roller which forms the sheet onto a table below.  Another worker pushes the sheets(about 32 in. by 84 in.) onto a 125 ft. conveyor where the glass cools. At the end of the conveyor two workers cut the sheets to size to be packed for shipping or storage by yet another worker.  They produce 18 patterns and over 5000 different shades and colors.  Sand for the process is acquired from Berkeley Springs WV and Gore VA.  Soda Ash comes from Wyoming and the lime used comes from Greer Industries based near Morgantown.

Mixing two ladles of glass of two different colors preparing to run it through the rollers to make a glass sheet.

Wissmach Glass is shipped to customers around the World to places like the Middle East, Germany Australia, and across the U.S.  Why do you think this would this be the case? List 4 possible reasons to discuss.  

After lunch in New Martinsville WV we went back to Paden City WV to Marble King.  Marble King produces marbles for many uses and they are used in many places.  After a 1958 fire, Marble King moved to a closed glass factory site, today the building is over 100 years old.

Marble King furnace- Marble King marble making machines would be in front of the furnace.  Out of service due to electrical outage due to storm.

Marbles are made mostly of cullet so Marble King gets scrap glass from many sources.

Cullet for marbles Marble King

After having engineering students from WVU come and assess their furnaces, they designed and built a new one changing the system of how they make marbles slightly.  Hurricane Katrina's effect on rising  gas prices caused them to realize a savings of 30%.  Innovative thinking of this sort has led to marbles being purchased for use in scrubbers that remove particulates from power plant emissions, for medical uses, and as inert filler in wine making allowing for a higher quality wine.  Marbles are still used by children for the game marbles.

What might be some other uses of marbles?  List as many as you can with your group and discuss, then discuss with the whole class.

On our return trip to Wheeling we went to Moundsville in Marshall County and saw the penitentiary which operated from 1866 to 1995.  Across the street from the penitentiary is the Grave Creek Mound, which is the largest of its type in the United States.  Beside the mound, is a museum and archaeological facility with many artifacts from the earliest West Virginians to Civil War era artifacts.  Beside the mound is a garden with the agricultural crops that the ancient civilizations raised.

Seven crops can be found in the garden, what do you think they are?

Monday-  After leaving Huntington WV this morning, our first stop was at the town of Williamstown WV.  The first business we visited was Gabbert cullett-  Cullet is glass that has already been made from sand, soda ash and lime.  Companies that use or make glass can use cullet to make new glass or to color clear glass without having to add metals, chemicals etc. to make g eelass from scratch.  At Gabbert, glass is brought in from all over and sorted by color then resold by the pound.  The current owner, Frank Lowe's, customer base has dwindled  over the last 20 years.

Our next visit was to  Fenton Art Glass.    Frank and John Fenton were glassworkers for other glass producers who decided to start their own glass production factory.  Using an investment of $284.86 they began production in 1907. W They pioneered the technique of making iridescent  or carnival glass.  During the 1920's workers from Europe came to Fenton bringing knowledge and techniques not known in this country.  The 1930's brought the development of cranberry glass.  The 1940's saw the innovation of the hobnail design giving the glass a bumpy texture.  This glass became Fenton's bread and butter item.  In the 1970's they developed limited edition items, the 80's saw a partnership with QVC.   Fenton ceased production in 2011, now they only sell and make beads and sell inventory from their storage.
We ended the day at the Oglebay Glass Museum in Wheeling WV.  The museum has a resident glass blower who makes items for the museum gift shop.  Four of our participants got to work with the artisan to make glass items.  The museum displays items only made at glass factories in Wheeling.  Items are from Hobbs- Brockunier, Hobbs, Central, and Northwood glass factories.  Also displayed is china made at the Warwick China Company.

What factors do you think led to the development of the glass and ceramic industries in Wheeling WV?