Glass Flower

Photo courtesy of Curious Expeditions on Flickr

Yes yes this flower is made of glass. And it’s part of a collection of 4000 glass flowers exhibited at the Harvard Museum of Natural History. I was so mind blown when I saw them in real life. If you happen to be in the Boston area it’s something you really shouldn’t miss. Really, I’m having trouble writing and finding pictures that do justice to how breathtaking these are. This collection is so realistic, as it was created as a study collection for Harvard professor George Lincoln Goodale by Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka between 1887 and 1936. There are 847 species of flowers in this collection, which includes every part of the flower, including some sections and fruits. Most flowers were made by heating glass, but some parts are blown glass. They are sometimes made using colored glass and sometimes painted after they were shaped. Again, I can’t really convey how cool these flowers are in a blog post so make sure you check them out if you can.