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President,
Senior Scribes
KOKOMO
OPALESCENT GLASS
By
Delbert Blickenstaff
At
7:30 AM our friends Jim and Donna Fourman picked up Louise and me and
we headed
up 571 toward Kokomo, Indiana. Our destination was the Kokomo
Opalescent Glass
factory. Both Donna and I enjoy working in stained glass and we wanted
to see
how it is made.
The
weather was beautiful and we had a pleasant drive, stopping briefly at
a rest
stop on I-69. We arrived at the factory in Kokomo in time for the tour
at 10:00
AM.
A
spokesman gave us a short lecture about the factory, saying that it was
over
100 years old and that the location was chosen because of the
availability of
natural gas to heat the ovens. Their ovens operate continuously and the
monthly
gas bill is $50,000. The basic ingredient used is sand which is melted
in the
ovens sat 2500 degrees. Various chemicals are added to provide the
colors.
Their two most famous customers were Louis Comfort Tiffany and Frank
Lloyd
Wright.
Our
tour took us past the ovens and we saw one of the workers carry a
bucket (on a
long pole) of molten, red hot glass from an oven to a table where
another
worker formed it into a roll with a fork. Then the glass was rolled
between two
large rollers which flattened it into a sheet approximately 30 inches
by 60
inches. After it cools the uneven heads and tails are trimmed off.
We
were then shown the storage room where thousands of sheets of glass of
all
colors imaginable were kept. They ship glass all over the world in
crates that
are well packed. Not all the glass is formed into big sheets. Some is
poured
over molds and is formed into plates. Replacement glass can be ordered
for
broken windows and they need two samples of the broken glass for
matching.
Our
tour ended in the sales area where Donna and I each bought a few pieces
to take
home. Then the four of us found the Sycamore Grill where we enjoyed a
big
lunch. Our drive home was uneventful and we arrived home by 4:00 PM and
before
the evening rain. I wonder where our Kokomo Opalescent Glass will end
up.
By
Delbert Blickenstaff
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