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Monday, June 18, 2018

Rock Hunting Surprise: Early American Revolution-Era Slag Glass




I collect rocks. I also love to look for arrowheads, and anything else old and cool and interesting. I love history, especially American history, so these items fascinate me. 

I recently turned my oldest daughter into a rock and arrowhead-hunting addict—she's been bitten by the bug too so we search together, which is so much fun. 

Walking along a riverbed recently we came across a unique find - a few chunks of slag glass scattered and semi-buried along a riverbank. Bright to deep blue, green, and turquoise, this glass is a by-product of an American Revolution-era forge from a ways up river. Washed down the river and buried over a span of about 250 years, it found its way to my feet. 

I love the history—as well as the look and feel of the imperfect chunks of glass, and knowing their age and origin makes them even cooler. 








Finding a piece of slag glass that is close to 250 years old. I wondered if this could be made into a piece of unique and beautiful jewelry.... hmmm





Here are just a few pieces that I found during one walk. It's neat to see the different colors, the different shades of blue and green, as well as how the different pieces are in different stages of form - you can see how some are kind of frozen in their once-molten stage, full of holes from air bubbles, air pockets, with traces of metal or minerals present, and how other pieces are in clear, more smooth vitreous, glassy form. 


The bottom left piece is butterscotch jasper, and I suspect it is a piece of an ancient arrowhead or Native American Indian tool, as there was no other jasper visible in the area and it's shape and form fit that of an arrowhead common to our region. 






Stay tuned for some unique jewelry creations made from some of this very cool glass, which has a history as unique as it's look and range of colors and textures!

What do you think?


Have a great week!
Laura


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