Waterford

 What a cute little town! Stayed at a nice place on the river right in the middle of everything.  Checked in yesterday and started walking around.  We ended up at Waterford crystal - ya know - to check out the retail store before our tour today. It was glorious - so many beautiful things to see - 

Retail store

So we woke up and off we went to our tour of the Waterford factory.  The tour was amazing. The explanations and show and tell we’re top notch.  

Did you know that Waterford crystal shut down - dissolved - went kaput in 1851.  Something about a famine.   And it stayed closed until someone revived it in 1951 - that’s right no Waterford crystal for 100 years. 

Another tidbit is there is a US flag flying out front because the US is the largest customer. We buy more crystal than anyone else!

All pieces are hand blown.  The blob on the end of this will be cut off as it’s the part the holds the glass to the pole

These are schematics of designs the cutters use. It tells them what to do

This piece is called the apprentice bowl. It contains all the cuts Waterford uses.  Once a person finishes their apprenticeship - which takes 8 years - they have to create this bowl in 8 hours.  It’s their final exam. 

Watching a cutter cut in the design on a bowl.  The only designs that are made by a machine are circular - circles etc.  everything else down to a candlestick holder are crafted by hand

This shows how the “markers” put guidelines on pieces to help the cutters

And the piece de’ resistance - the NCAA championship crystal football !

The other videos are too long to post 

After this amazing experience we wandered over to the Silver museum.  

Shan with her crown on

From here we headed toward Kilkenny