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OBISDIAN - is a by-product of volcanic action
FULGURITES - is natural glass made via lightning hitting sand dunes, beaches,etc..
TEKTITES - is the result of meteorites crashes
Though highly collectable - natural-made glass is very scarce
The basic ingredients which must be present to make glass are as follows
silica {usually in form of sand}
an alkali {soda or potash}
lime{which prevents the glass from decaying}
and intense heat
THE short HISTORY OF GLASS MAKING
No one knows who first made man-made glass, though we do know that
this glass was used first as a glazing for
earthernware pots,as beads and
in other primative ways.
It is not known how ,or who, discovered that wrapping
sand {or other organic matter} around a rod
and dipping it into molten glass
could result in a
glass vessel with a hollow core - making
*The first glass vessel*
About a century BEFORE the birth of Christ - someone
in Syria experimented by placing a glob of glass onto
the end of a hollow tube.Blowing into the tube, this man
was able to produce the first glass vessel using the blowpipe.
The blowpipe allowed the making of glass vessels to be easier and cheaper.
Then - when the use of molds were also incorporated-the utilitarian use
and the making of { mold blown } glass bottles became even more common.
Yet it was the invention of the fully automatic bottle-making machine
that forever changed the bottle industry.
Designed in 1891 by Michael Owens ,
the automatic machine was in full use by every glasshouse by the year 1913.
Thus ended the age of hand-made glass vessels
LEARN MORE ABOUT GLASS BY VISITING HISTORIC GLASSHOUSE by clicking here
Stay safe
Watch out for broken glass
Keep an eye open for snakes
Always let someone know where you are going
to dig at
Stay LEGAL..ask permission to go onto the land,
Remember,
THERE IS ALOT OF HISTORY IN THAT OLD TRASH! Respect it!