August 18, 2007
Driving through Småland, you will soon find yourself in "Glasriket".
This is where they, for hundreds of years, have made glass.
The small towns of Kosta (pictured above) and Boda have joined behind the brand name Kosta Boda.
Another manufacturer is Bergdala, where we visited just in time for...
"Hyttsill". A traditoon of feasting in the heat from the glass oven, during the evenings when the glass blowiers were done for the day.
Near the oven, along a table...
...we eat sill and sausage along with a good size beer.
1200 degrees Celsius (2000°F)
So hot you can't even get close enough for a photo.
This evening, one of the workers showed us how glass blowing is done.
you blow (slowly!) and the lump of glass baloons up and becomes a hollow bubble.
Roll it along a surface to shape it symmetrically.
Remove the pipe, and you may have a....glass!
We tried it too. But, hey - slowly...!
Oops! A bit too much balooning going there.
My turn...
Once done, the object needs to "cool" in a long oven.
A conveyor belt takes the glass through different temperature zones, ranging from 500°C (1000°F) to room temperature in 8 hours.
We spend the evening at a real Bed-and-tremendous-breakfast.
Next day offered a bit of a drizzle. But that's fine when you can go shopping. Glass outlets abound.
We also watched some more glass making.
This guy is making a nice vase. It'll soon have a Kosta Boda sticker on it.
While the glass is hot, you can shape it pretty much any way you like.
You can attach pieces of glass together.
rolling the hot glass in color powder
Another vase?
Red and yellow foot, it seems.
spinning, shaping
Spin it fast enough, and it flares open...
...into a fruit platter!
(and now you also see all that color that went into the glass)
While that thing cools in the oven for 8 hours, we head out into the blue-sky-with-dark-clouds summer weather to continue our journey through this Glass Kingdom.
We stop along the way to take a peek...
...at Dufvemåla, the small farm from which Karl-Oskar and Kristina emigrated to USA in the 1920 - according to Wilhelm Moberg's novel The Emigrates (later also filmed).
The small town of Orrefors...
...is the home of another world famous brand of glassware.
Our last night is spent over a steak dinner, a few drinks and a game of pool...
All the ingredients for a great evening at this 19th century manor.