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?

Glass Pictures

Album of Pics. from Glass trip.

Post for week two Map Paden City

 The area that became Paden City was settled by Obadiah Paden in 1790. Then Known as Paden Valley, it remained largely agricultural until the turn of the 20th century when Pittsburg industrialists Thomas Watson began to develop industries there. Along with concrete,steel and lumber, glass and pottery factories were built. In 1911, Frenchman John Lessel opened Paden City Pottery which produced fine china. This company developed the first ovenproof dinnerware line. It was in operation until 1953 when lower priced items imported from Japan drove them out of business.

 What made it possible for the Japanese to export lower priced goods that put american companies out of business? What could we compare it to today?

 What two key factors made Paden City a place of interest for Pittsburg Industrialists Thomas Watson? (listen to the audioboo for the answer)

Paden City Glass Companies

Empire Glass Co.- 1903-1904; colored flat glass.

Ohio Valley Glass Co.-1904-1910; colored flat glass.

Duesquene Glass Company 1905-1919; beer, mineral and other bottles.

Paul Wissmach Glass Co. Inc.- 1910 to present; colored flat glass.

Paden City Glass Manufacturing Co.-1916-1951; tableware,  barware, stemware, giftware, novelities.

American Glass Works Inc. 1919-1928; liquors, soda & other bottles.

American Glass Works Co. 1928-1936; patent & prescription medicine bottles.

Tyler Glass Co.1940-1941; hollowware, bottles.

Lawrence Glass Novelty Co. 1929-1931; marbles.

Corning Glass Works-Paden City 1960 circa 1980's tableware, coffee pots.

Marble King Inc. 1960 to present;  toy marbles.

Holdman Hot Glass - Hand Blown Glass Making from Richard Holdman on Vimeo.

listen to ‘Laden city’ on Audioboo

Post for week one.
How will I use my blog to integrate technology into my blog.  Pretty simple, I will listen to Brian's suggestions, and look at the examples that he has been providing us.  I was interested in his students generated blogs.  Both his and the other ones he put on the class blog as examples.  This is my 4th project with the group, and one of the best parts of the class is getting to pick the brains of the other participants about ideas of how to do cool stuff in the classroom.
To this point, I have used previous blogs from the trips to show my students different aspects of WV culture as we go through the year.  As part of the timber and rail class last year, we visited  the town of Beverly in Randolph County WV.  I was amazed at the rich resource the museum provided in materials for my class, WV Studies.  Topics displayed-  Settlement, First West Virginians, Transportation (both R&R's and Turnpikes) government, Civil War.  I hope to go back to Beverly and add more to some of my lessons.  I also in-bed questions into some post for students to read and answer or think about and discuss.
One of my Timber and Rail lessons that I am teaching this week on the timber industry involves stations and it is working really well so i intend to do a similar lesson with stations on the economics of glass, and this year one of the stations will involve one of my blog post from the trip on economics of glass, possibly from the Blenko visit.  IF YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS ABOUT THIS SHARE THEM WITH ME.