Thursday, April 2, 2026

Second on the Second-Glass Flowers

   Hi everyone. I hope April has started off well for you. I'd also like to wish a happy start to Passover to those who celebrate.  Since it is April 2, I'll be joining Bleubeard and Elizabeth for  Second on the Second .

  It's been several years since I visited the Harvard Museum of Natural History in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It's not a huge museum, but it's one of my favorites. One of the permanent exhibits they have there is a room filled with glass flowers.  I should say it's a room filled with glass botany, even though it is often called  the glass flowers exhibit.

   Theses glass plants were made by Leopold and Rudolph Blaschka, a father and son  Czech team who worked for over 50 years from the late 1800's until early 1936, just a few years before the son passed. Between the 2 of them they made over 4,000 botanically correct glass plants and plant parts. They are really amazing because they look like real plants.

  For Second on the Second today I thought I would share some photos from blog posts in 2018 (the last time I visited) and 2016. I need to see if any of my friends want to go back for another visit to the museum because these really are amazing art pieces, and I'd love to go back again and see not only the glass botany pieces, but also the rest of museum. 








   These above photos are from my original post from May 2018 which you can find here: Glass Botany.

    Here's a few more views from June of 2016 when I posted Glass Flowers  and also a few more views from May of 2016 when I posted  Off on an Adventure.





    I thought these glass botanical pieces were perfect to share today since our new challenge at Art Journal Journey is Gillena's theme Trees are Awesome, Aren't They?



    This is a journal page I made back in  2016 where you can see a photo of both of the glass flower creators as well as Leopold's wife (who is also Rudolph's mother). 

    That's all for me today. I hope everyone is having a wonderful start to the new month. 

  




16 comments:

  1. ...Erika, thanks for sharing this glass botany display. It's totally new to me!

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  2. Incredible! I think I could arrive there the moment the doors opened and you would have to winch me out at closing time. All the best - David

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  3. Now that's a museum that I would love to visit too! Some really cool stuff!

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  4. What gorgeous, painstaking glass art! And all in the service of science.

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  5. These are all glass? Unbelievable and amazing. They are really gorgeous. I've got to visit there sometime!

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  6. This is a fine display of glass plants. A truly wonderful tribute to the flower creators. Have a nice day.

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  7. Amazing pieces in your museum and so nice to see what they have in such pictorial details

    Our Cambridge offers The Fitzwilliam which is a stunning building specialising in art and antiquities and a fabulous Egyptian room, a Country I love.

    B x

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  8. Your page is a lovely homage to the Glass Flowers. Interesting tidbit. The recipe for the glass and how they were made dies along with the creators. Stay warm and dry

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  9. You are finding new ways that people have created new and wonderful art -- a really neat discovery.

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  10. Wow--incredible! Thanks for sharing this!

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  11. Hard to believe that they are glass plants. Thanks so much for sharing your photos. Your journal page is a perfect tribute.

    -Soma

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  12. Wow Erika what a fabulous Museum, how talented both Father and Son where. If I lived closer i'd sure take a visit with you... a super post, loving the journal page too.
    Wishing you a very Happy Easter just incase I don't manage to visit before it arrives Hugs Tracey xx

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  13. Awesome! Absolutely stunning! I've never seen anything like it!
    Thanks for sharing that (again, but I hadn't seen it before)
    Have a fab Easter weekend,
    Lisca

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  14. This is all amazing. Thanks for sharing Erika. Happy Easter!

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