Conservation Lab: Glass Flowers.


Scott Fulton working on a model of an Emperor Alexander apple affected by apple scab disease: Malus pumila (Model 813).

Luffa cylindrica (Model 272), Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, 1892. The Archives of Rudolf and Leopold Blaschka and The Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass Models of Plants, Harvard University © President and Fellows of Harvard College.

You can read all about this fascinating restoration at The Creators Project.

Comments

  1. Raucous Indignation says

    I just noticed that the subtitle of Affinity is “Art, Fun & Nonsense.” Hrrmm, I wonder which category I’m filed under.

  2. rq says

    Oh. Wow.
    It’s hard to believe they’re glass -- a work of a lifetime. Glad to see they’re getting some love and attention.

  3. says

    I would love to see them. It’s easy to see why they keep them locked up, the temptation to touch them would be overwhelming.

  4. Ice Swimmer says

    Glass, fragile and stable at the same time. I’d be afraid to touch them. I hope they will still exist in ten thousand years and there will be people viewing them and making comparisons to the flora of the time.

  5. fusilier says

    I’ve seen them several times (Daughter #1 just finished her graduate degree at Harvard) and they aren’t locked up.

    They are on display, just like other museum specimens, in cabinets with lots of room to view. The unfortunate thing is that all too few people understand how important they are.

    fusilier

    James 2:24

  6. woodsong says

    They are amazing!!! I saw them with my husband several years ago. At first, I thought I was looking at glass sectional models with real pieces of plant…then I saw a sign that explained that everything in the cases was made of glass! Talk about being awed.

    According to one sign in the exhibit, the most common question the docents hear is “So, where are the glass flowers?”

  7. woodsong says

    everything in the cases was made of glass

    Or I should say, everything attached to the mounting panels in the cases. The panels are something less fragile.

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