I'm not normally a gift shop-kinda guy, but after spending two days walking through the Corning Museum of Glass, I was anxious to look over the spectacular glass artwork that they had for sale downstairs in the Glass Market. This is definitely a "You touch it, you break it, you buy it" place, so I kept my hands in my pockets and just looked.
The Glass Market is a really an amazing gift shop with Steuben crystal artwork, fine art glass, jewelry, serving plates, goblets, fine crystal, and home furnishing items. You can buy the famous leaded glass artwork, stained glass sun catchers, little glass animals, flowers, and knickknacks, barware, fancy wine decanters, bud vases, and so much more. Wow, the selection was really impressive, and very fragile.
Dad and I picked out a couple of smaller items, and I had mine wrapped and shipped back to Florida. In my case, I found some hand-blown glass pumpkins to use for Halloween decorations, and in his case he found a glass serving platter for my sister to use for the Holidays. He surprised me with a hand-made studio glass paperweight that depicts life under the sea. It is gorgeous, and surprisingly heavy, and it's one of my favorite possessions.
If a trip to Corning, NY is not in your future, then you can still shop and purchase items from the Corning Glass Market just by visiting their website: http://glassmarket.cmog.org/index.htm
I did not expect to like this shop, but was very much surprised. read more