[PA-NJ Glassblowers] Just when you think you've seen everything possible made out of Glass...

[Tony Patti]

I would never ever have thought of Hermit Crabs as a valid glassblowing
business model.

 

Exposed: Hermit crabs go public with hand-made see-through glass shells

 

 

Exposed: Hermit crabs go public with see-through shells

 

http://dvice.com/archives/2012/08/exposed-hermit.php

 

http://glassshell.com/Site_3/Home.html

 


I loved hermit crabs as a kid and always wondered what they looked like
inside of those shells. Now I finally get to see them thanks to glass
shells. A glass blower has created a line of glass shell habitats for hermit
crabs and it looks like the little guys love them as much as we love to look
at them.

 

Robert DuGrenier is a glass blower with over 30 years experience in creating
a wide variety of beautiful glass works. He decided to try to and mimic the
most beautiful thing of all - nature - in creating habitats for hermit
crabs. He started with creating entire terrariums and then moved on to
creating shells. His view is that the terrariums and the crabs going about
their business, adopting and dropping their shells is essentially living
art.

 

DuGrenier created the spiral shells out of crystal so the crab would have
the same comfortable spirals they are used to, with a material that would do
them no harm. He's created a collection of shells so varied in size and with
added color. For the crabs that prefer a little bling in their thing, he's
also created shells infused with bronze, silver or 24-karat gold.

 

Sure, the crabs' rear ends look like shriveled little aliens when you
compare them to their brawny visible parts. No wonder they're called hermits
- they probably want to keep that private and that's cool.

 

No matter how private they may want to be, there's a problem caused by a
lack of habitable shells in the wild due to changes in the environment, and
these poor little crabs have been having trouble finding adequate
accommodation on their own. Scientists had studied and experimented with the
crabs to find out just what goes on in the shells and whether they'd accept
man-made ones.

 

Fortunately, that issue has long been laid to rest with researchers
developing 3D printed shells the crabs took to after a short time. Then came
the Lego crab shell (that crab hopped right in, and who could blame him?),
and now these glass ones. With every step the crabs seem to be adopting
their new homes quickly, which is a major score for the health and welfare
of these little crustaceans.

 

We're not kidding ourselves that every family will want a see through shell
that could induce monster nightmares. Nor will everyone want to pay the
price for them. As they are handmade and quite complex they are likely to be
on the pricey side - DuGrenier's Glass Shell website takes inquiries.

 

But, for those of us science geeks who love to see things as they grow and
evolve, these crystal shells are perfect. Not to mention they just really
beautiful pieces of art should you choose not to turn them into hermit crab
housing.

 

Glass Shell, via IncredibleThings, via Geekologie

 


Tony Patti
  
www.glassblower.info
  
gaffer at glassblower.info

 <http://www.glassblower.info/qr-code.html> QR Code for Tony Patti -
www.glassblower.info

 

 

 

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