Friday, May 20, 2011

"It's all in the sand, baby!"

I'm having a love affair, like so many of you, with blue Ball canning jars. Here are some lilacs and bleeding hearts, in the simple beauty of these blue, jewel-like gems. They are so pretty and simple. Why are we all smitten with these jars?  Where did they come from...why are they blue?


I found an article here, about Indiana's Hoosier Slide, a 200 foot sand dune, that was exhausted by the manufacturing of canning jars in the 30 years between 1890 and 1920.  Thirteen and a half million tons of sand were shipped to glass makers, and they produced jars in this beautiful shade of blue.  When the dune was gone, a new source of sand produced a different shade of glass.

 The mineral content of the sand
gives the glass it's particular shade.
It's all in the sand, baby...  You learn something new everyday!  Have a great weekend.




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2 comments:

Jayme Goffin, The Coop Keeper said...

Oh I didn't know that! I too love the blue jars...I like putting some little pebbles in them and candles - they make such nice lumunaries outside! Have you ever watched Larkrise to Candleford? I do believe you would LOVE that series! I just finished it via Netflix. It's my absolute favorite.

May 20, 2011 at 6:32 PM
Lynne said...

I loved reading about the blue canning jars! I can remember when I was canning back in the 60's blue canning jars were everywhere. I actually used them to "put up" my sweet pickles. Really cool, the blue and the green.

Now I am feeling really old, but I am HAPPY!

May 22, 2011 at 7:31 AM

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