We visited this cool place last fall while I was between hospital stays. It's much more enjoyable on your own two feet than from a wheelchair, but that may just be me. :)
Doing something a little bit different this post. I've included a Google Earth map of the Museum of Glass area annotated with photo locations. First up is the map. As usual, clicky piccy for larger view (which are also larger than usual as well). Most of these shots are with the Pentax DA 10-17mm fisheye lens, because… I was in a fishy mood. ;)
Shot 1. Okay, this first shot is from the entrance side (east) of the museum. The water towers in shot 2 are on the far left and the fountain in shot 3 is on the far right.
Shot 2. These small towers are filled with water, some clear on top, others clear on the bottom. Occasionally they burp and you can see the bubble traverse to the top, but it's hard to see with the fisheye perspective.
Shot 3 & 4. A couple of shots of some glass fountains, though the water is off. Not sure if they ever turn it on or not. On both my visits they've been off.
Shot 5. This is a view from the wheel chair ramp of the pool/fountains in the last shots. For those of you who can do stairs, they're on the opposite end, behind the water towers in shot 2.
Shot 6. This is the roof over the elevator that opens in the museum (there's another that opens outside). As you can see from the map, this is actually a right triangle, but the fisheye does strange and wondrous things to object you shoot with it. This also serves as the east entrance of the Bridge of Glass, designed by Dale Chihuly, a Tacoma native. One of my favorite shots of the day.
Shot 7. The Venetian Wall (or most of it). It's 80 feet long and the back side faces south, so it catches sunlight all day long.
Shot 8. The glass towers, located in the middle of the bridge.
Shot 9. Last of the exterior shots. The Seaform Gallery. It's 20x50 feet and it hangs over your head like the coolest ceiling you've ever seen.
Shot 10. Moving inside for these. No pics allowed in the galleries of gift shop, but you can snap all you want in the hot shop, where the artist blow/form glass. Inside the hot shop, looking up.
The rest of these shots are rather blurry because it's not particularly bright in the hot shop and I wanted to convey the motion involved in forming the glass. Ok, I messed up the ISO setting & the shutter speeds are too low, but it sounds better if I done it on purpose, ya know?
Shot 11. Forming a vase using a wet newspaper pad and a little lung power.
Shot 12. Melting small bits of colored glass into the body of the vase.
Shot 13. After placing the vase into a wooden mold it is spun while air is blown into the vase to make it fill the form of the mold. In this shot the artist is holding the air in the vase with his thumb as the vase cools enough to remove from the mold.
After being removed from the mold, the vase is parted off the blow tube and placed in an annealing oven for 24 hours where it slowly cools to room temperature so it does crack from thermal shock.
This trip it was easier to see what was going on. Last rip they were making stem ware (wine glasses) and it was hard to see any details, and there was no blowing work involved. It's always a crap shoot to see what's going on in the hot shop, but it's always interesting.
I hope you enjoyed my little tour. :)
Doing something a little bit different this post. I've included a Google Earth map of the Museum of Glass area annotated with photo locations. First up is the map. As usual, clicky piccy for larger view (which are also larger than usual as well). Most of these shots are with the Pentax DA 10-17mm fisheye lens, because… I was in a fishy mood. ;)
Shot 1. Okay, this first shot is from the entrance side (east) of the museum. The water towers in shot 2 are on the far left and the fountain in shot 3 is on the far right.
Shot 2. These small towers are filled with water, some clear on top, others clear on the bottom. Occasionally they burp and you can see the bubble traverse to the top, but it's hard to see with the fisheye perspective.
Shot 3 & 4. A couple of shots of some glass fountains, though the water is off. Not sure if they ever turn it on or not. On both my visits they've been off.
Shot 5. This is a view from the wheel chair ramp of the pool/fountains in the last shots. For those of you who can do stairs, they're on the opposite end, behind the water towers in shot 2.
Shot 6. This is the roof over the elevator that opens in the museum (there's another that opens outside). As you can see from the map, this is actually a right triangle, but the fisheye does strange and wondrous things to object you shoot with it. This also serves as the east entrance of the Bridge of Glass, designed by Dale Chihuly, a Tacoma native. One of my favorite shots of the day.
Shot 7. The Venetian Wall (or most of it). It's 80 feet long and the back side faces south, so it catches sunlight all day long.
Shot 8. The glass towers, located in the middle of the bridge.
Shot 9. Last of the exterior shots. The Seaform Gallery. It's 20x50 feet and it hangs over your head like the coolest ceiling you've ever seen.
Shot 10. Moving inside for these. No pics allowed in the galleries of gift shop, but you can snap all you want in the hot shop, where the artist blow/form glass. Inside the hot shop, looking up.
The rest of these shots are rather blurry because it's not particularly bright in the hot shop and I wanted to convey the motion involved in forming the glass. Ok, I messed up the ISO setting & the shutter speeds are too low, but it sounds better if I done it on purpose, ya know?
Shot 11. Forming a vase using a wet newspaper pad and a little lung power.
Shot 12. Melting small bits of colored glass into the body of the vase.
Shot 13. After placing the vase into a wooden mold it is spun while air is blown into the vase to make it fill the form of the mold. In this shot the artist is holding the air in the vase with his thumb as the vase cools enough to remove from the mold.
After being removed from the mold, the vase is parted off the blow tube and placed in an annealing oven for 24 hours where it slowly cools to room temperature so it does crack from thermal shock.
This trip it was easier to see what was going on. Last rip they were making stem ware (wine glasses) and it was hard to see any details, and there was no blowing work involved. It's always a crap shoot to see what's going on in the hot shop, but it's always interesting.
I hope you enjoyed my little tour. :)
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