Wired glass

I finally resolved what to do with the ends of wire for my recycled sculpture, I have always liked the kinks and irregularity of the wire as I unweave it from its original form. I am using chicken wire at the moment for these pieces, and I have made the lengths as long as possible when placing it over the frame in the kiln for firing. Strangely this seems to be the correct length to balance the whole piece.The beads on the ends are pieces I have scavenged from old jewelry and chandelier pieces, and they create the feeling of movement in the piece. The blue glass is from a wine bottle, whole piece reminds me of the windswept tree that you find on the coast.

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

Glass sculpture

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.

Recycled glass sculpture

I finally got it together to make some more of my sculptural work at last, I have a show in December this year to prepare for. I have been working with copper wire weaving it into a lattice to melt the glass through. I want to make the sculpture less fragile than the pieces I have been making as they are so hard to transport and so fragile some of them only have a short life around me.

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.

 

 

Crash cooled creations

I have been continuing experiments with trying to make a kiln formed vase, and I made a couple, they are perfect, the paint effects are divine and I am really happy with them. Here is one that has two layers one painted blue, one pink I love the effect.

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.

Waiting for Glass paint to dry

Waiting for paint to dry!!!

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)