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I just read that the first glass furnace in America was built in 1608
Honestly, I found that out in a book on colonial crafts I picked up at the library. It was in Jamestown, Virginia, and it only ran for a few years before it shut down. Tbh, it just hit me how long people have been trying to do this work here, with way less gear than we have now. I always figured it was a much newer thing in this country. Makes you think about how much easier it is to get a decent torch or kiln today. Has anyone else come across an old fact about the craft that stuck with you?
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spencer86mo ago
That Jamestown furnace was actually built in 1608, but it was for making glass beads, not flat glass or vessels. The first successful glasshouse for those came later in the 1600s. It's a common mix-up with the dates.
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taylor.sean6mo ago
My buddy found a 1700s glassmaker's diary in a Maine antique shop once.
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nancycooper6mo ago
Always figured those old diaries were just lists of supplies or the weather. Reading a copy of one totally changed my mind. The guy wrote about his failed batches, calling the glass "sick" or "fevered". He sketched little pictures of bubbles in the melt. It felt like reading his private frustrations, not just an old log book. What did the diary your buddy found end up saying?
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