The width of the weave of the wire, gives a different feel to the piece, and accentuates the color of bottle

I have finally resolved how to finish the wire strands of my pieces. I think the idea not only makes the work complete, but leads on the the next level of choosing what to put on the ends.

This piece is from a white standard lightshade from a demolished house and the drops are from an old chandelier. The loveliest surprise is that the drops capture the image of the honeycomb pattern of the wire frame.

This piece is from a little blue plate Liz gave me, the drops are crystals from a chandelier again. So the reflect the colour.

Green glass plates, go in transparent, and come out this lovely opaque emerald, these pieces are so fragile as the glass between the wire is incredibly thin, so it doesn’t stay unbroken for me. I think the only way would be to place the piece in a glass container straight out of the kiln and handle carefully. I am trying to find how to stop the glass from continuing to flow, after I turned it off when I reach right shape. I think I will have to be strong and crash cool until about 600 degrees or less.

I’m in this years Toyota show with a some other great sculptors, looking forward to the opening

I sent this image with a pic of one of my first sculptures using this technique into the Toyota Spirit Gallery Exihibition and both pieces got in. So I am a little bit excited!!!!

I went to the last exhibition and thought the works displayed were wonderful

http://www.toyota.com.au/about/toyota-community-spirit/gallery

Now I cannot  decide to do today, Liz gave me the best green plate completely different to any glass plate I have seen before, so I think I’ll weave another frame. This one I will use more threads connected from the piece to the frame I hand it from in the kiln. I try to be symmetrical, but it seems impossible, every thing I do has a lean. This can be amusing especially when I make furniture , as most men will look and ponder for a while and then proceed to tell me what to do to make it more stable. It would be great if one of them would volunteer to actually do the work. But I figure if I need a table I’ll make one, and if its slightly not level, its better than not having one at all.

With the bottom half of the vase I tried something different I love the stem, how it drops through the larger hole and supports the frame, so I looked at multiplying my favorite feature, this one I wove the frame with larger holes, to see what wold happen, I love it and can’t wait to do another larger one tomorrow

The blue of the original glass is fainter as the glass stretches through the frame, because it isn’t as delicate I think the whole piece should be bigger. I will be spending the next 24 hours thinking of how I can join circles of wire within a circular border     mmmm

These pieces I have made were inspired by watching an orb spider weave her web by torchlight. This was entrancing to watch, and I went home and wove my own web like creation out of copper wire. The green glass is from some lovely glass plates my sister found at the Ocean Grove op shop.

The hole in the middle of the web allows the piece to be beautifully stable. These two pieces are quite small about 15cm across and 10 cm high, the woven wire much more organic than the wire netting that I have been using. I have made a larger green one but I haven’t got a good picture yet.

Then I was lying around thinking about the frame and made this piece, that is using wire netting given to me by Liz Walker, I cut the centre out of the wire netting, so the glass piece would be free standing. I used a glass plate with pink and green irridescent motifs, which has come out brilliantly crystal clear. I now wish I have saved it for something more developed, but thats always the way.

I have curled the wire under the piece. The wire left is something I have to resolve, as if I cut it off,  I take the chance of breaking the glass edges, which detracts from the piece. I like leaving the wire long, as this make the wire and the glass all one piece. I am going to try heating the ends into a bead next hoping the heat

of the flame doesn’t travel to hot and crack the glass with heat shock. I am going to weave a new piece today, as I found the most beautiful blue plate to use, its a bit nerve wracking hoping that it will work as I can never find the original glass piece again unless I’m lucky enough to find a set of glass plates. It’s so cold at the moment its really hard to get motivated to work in the studio, instead I fight the cats for room in front of the heater. I know I’m bigger than them, but they give you such a hurt look if you push them out of the way.

I have kept the ring at an slight angle by putting it inside my steel  frame with wire mesh supporting one side that stretched  in the heat,  rather than propping it up with kiln posts like usual, as I love the tilt of the rim. As I am still experimenting, I used a fused circle that I had made earlier, but had devitrified, making the surface cloudy and the colours less vibrant, but as I fired to 790 degrees, it fire polished the surface so all the colours are lovely and vibrant. Another surprise. Usually the devit appearance spoils the piece, except for white painted bowls as the cloudiness enhances the the colour and texture of the piece. I don’t make that mistake very often any more, since I worked out it was from having the tin side of the float glass up, when fusing and slumping.

This piece has crushed glass mixed with the paint to create the texture and spiral effect of the piece, and  this has created the streaks of paint on the stem as the glass stretched and falls to the floor. I fired some small circles with smaller rings and they hardly moved during the firing, even at that temp, so I’ll keep firing higher and higher until something happens, but I find this size one I would like to explore further by making the stem longer or heating it longer to see what shapes the base will make.

But the next time I made one, I made the original circle smaller and it fell right though the ring

Actually I had quite a few fall through which was a bit discouraging. So I slowed the temp rise down to 100 degrees/hour, and watched them through the peep hole in the kiln as the temp rose from 700 degrees up. This one is rather daliesque, and I keep feeling if I have to catch it as it falls off the table. I am always fascinated how glass creates such organic shapes it you let it free form.

Next try….

As I was watching, I saw the glass slide off the ring on one side, so I crash cooled the kiln, as I wanted to keep the shape it made as it slid off the ring. The colours are really vibrant. as I have used a paint called antique red which has gold in it.

I realised that if I crash cooled the kiln I could keep the shape of the piece just after it fell, but before it collapsed further.

So now I have something completely different to explore, as I love the moment when I watch the glass slide through the ring and fall to the bottom of the kiln. Its at that moment that you have to open the kiln and let the cooler air halt the heating process and fix the piece into that serendipitous form. Every shape is  different, here are some more…

Now I have the perfect work to put in the Heater show at the Yarra Sculpture Gallery in July. The show came about as the gallery is freezing in winter, and the curator started thinking about how artists would convey their ideas about heat. Well this is mine, it’s that magic moment when things start to transform from one shape to another. Especially how the original shape starts as ordered and simple and the heat always reshapes it into organic one, that seems to be captured in time.

I have spent the last two days making little disasters in the kiln, and learning a lot from them

1. don’t watch a movie while your waiting for the kiln to hit 770. Stop and start action really loses enjoyment of the plot (not that there was one). Popping in and out, racing down to the studio, then back again, doesn’t really work, one needs to be there watching for the last 50 degrees. I programmed it to high and missed the peak, the results were obvious..

Way too hot!!!

2. after you have crash cooled the kiln, check what that naughty controller is actually doing rather than what you programmed it to do. I still not sure but I reckoned it heated up again, just because it could.

3. The kiln has hot spots, I have mainly fused plates on a flat surface at these temperatures, so the fact that kiln is hotter at the front, remained a secret until now. Here is one red vase, looking rather daliesque. It fell through the mold at 760 degrees, while the one at the back had only moved a few inches

Slid through and kept sliding

However I’ll not despair, as the paint effect on the back one, is the most brilliant pink and gold, so tomorrow I’ll try again

I’ve started this page, as something to do while I’m waiting…waiting…waitin’ waiting for paint to dry, the kiln to get to 770 degrees, all the intermissions between the beginning of making a piece and gazing at the finished masterpiece. Of course I could vacuum the floor or weed the garden, but they are going to get done anyway so don’t count.

I am firing some drop through vases today, I had always wanted to make something like this ever since seeing Dominic (?) pieces at Eagles Nest Gallery. So I started experimenting as I am stuck at home and cannot work on the recycled bottle ideas until I the gas bottle filled (I’ll explain later). I have small pieces of sheet glass around as I never throw anything out. So these are my first pieces

I knew I had to watch the kiln and wait to turn it off once the glass dropped through the mold, but I didn’t know then that I have to crash cool the kiln. I turned it off and left it. As you can see the continuing heat made the glass continue to fall, but it is a great whirlpool look, but the stems are so slender that the other two could not support their own weight. I used onglaze paint in between to circles of float glass, The paint effects are a lovely surprise, as the glass stretches the glass only holds the faintest tinge of color.

The white one was 5mm float, painted on one side only, this has a beautiful spiral effect, but it is quite rough and the edges are not rounded as it is not hot enough I fired to 770 degrees. The purple one was placed on fluted bullseye mold and the glass has lovely rippled effect, I am interested in following this idea, in a sculptural sense as it looks the most organic. I did three layers of paint green, white and blue on the smaller one and the melding of the colours is very harmonious, It held together as it had smaller fall to the kiln floor

I have to go and put the new pieces in the kiln now, the paint should be dry by now (I hope)