Objects for Locations Part 1

So... it's been a while since the last post and I thought I'd take the time to update everyone on what I've been up to since last January! Better get going...

So we began the second half of second year with our Objects for Locations brief, where we were to design a piece for a location. This was left very open for interpretation and the locations could be anything from a table to a public garden to a gallery space or even a certain part of the body.

Our starting point for the work was based around manipulating paper, and transforming it from a flat sheet into a three-dimensional form. This was difficult for me to get the hang of initially, but I found myself getting into it after a while...

I decided to draw the forms and then manipulate the drawings by increasing the scale and focusing on the more interesting areas. From these, I took inspiration from one of the methods I had used in first year, and drew these manipulated images directly into wet plaster to create moulds which could then be used for forming.

Instead of placing a flat sheet over the mould, I wanted much more texture to be created, and so used a mixture of smashed glass, small pieces of cut glass and coloured frits to be fired into the mould. Also by doing this, the image itself would become distorted further, and this is something I wanted to achieve.

The results:

The casts after sandblasting:

I was not particularly pleased with these casts at all really. Although there were some nice effects created, it was not really something that could be developed much further, and ideally I wanted pieces which were much more three-dimensional and free-standing.

I went back to the drawing board and had another look at the paper sculptures I had formed and the images that had come from them. The strongest images to me were the ones that seemed to have strong shapes alongside areas of detail and areas of simplicity. Taking this into account, I decided to make a wooden mould which resembled the shapes taken from the images.

This was much more ideal for producing casts for more three-dimensional pieces, and as I was still on placement at The World of Glass in St. Helen's, I took the mould with me to do a sand-cast. This is where the mould is pressed into damp sand and molten glass is then poured on and takes the shape of the mould.

Close up of the result:

The sand-cast:

I had kept the glass clear because I needed to test the process out first and make sure it would be worthwhile doing. The glass had not picked up as much detail as I was expecting it to, and although I liked the piece, I still was not entirely happy with the process, plus the facilities I needed to produce it were not readily available for me to use, and I needed something I could do at our facilities in uni.

I was advised by our technician that the same effect of sand-casting can be achieved in a kiln, and so this was my next step to try out. The kiln was filled with dry plaster which I then pushed my wooden mould into. I then layered pieces of coloured Artista glass on top of the imprint to be fired, and to be honest I really was not expecting anything good to come of it!

The result:

Close ups:

Even when I took it out of the kiln I was not too fussed, but it seemed to be a hit with my peers and it seemed to attract a lot of attention from anyone who walked past it on my workspace! The colours truly come out when held up to the light, which these photographs do not show.

After this initial experiment, I continued to use this method and this time tried it with plain clear float glass built up relatively thickly.

#1

Before the firing:

After the firing:

Close ups:

#2

Before the firing:

After the firing:

Close ups:

I really liked how these had turned out, though I still felt that these were not sculptural enough. It seemed that in order to achieve the free-standing pieces I was striving for, I needed to do some lost-wax casting- a much more long-winded, time consuming process. However the results if it is successful are worth the time put into them.

In order to begin this process I needed to make a gelflex (melted rubbery substance which is poured over and left to set) mould from my wooden mould, to get the negative from it.

The gelflex mould is then filled with melted wax and left to set..

This time, plaster is used to produce another mould from the wax forms.

Once the plaster is set, the wax is steamed out and the plaster is left with a void which will be filled with glass and fired.

In order to get the glass into the mould however, the cullet (small pebble shaped pieces of glass) is placed into a ceramic plant pot and so when the temperature in the kiln gets hot enough for the glass to melt, it begins to drip through the holes in the base of the plant pot and into the mould (if you line it up properly!).

The 3 moulds in the kiln:

The firing was not entirely successful at all. The openings into the plaster moulds were not really wide enough in hindsight, and this caused some problems with the glass not going where it was supposed to go and one of the moulds actually exploded due to the air pressure!

Despite this glitch, the pieces were thankfully salvageable, and although they may have been slightly smaller than expected, after some serious cold-working and polishing they turned out rather nicely...

Oh- and in case you're wondering, my chosen location was an outdoor public garden :)

Bits and Bobs

Flattened wine bottles...

(The two on the right are joined together!)

A few more coasters.. why not?!!

I had some spare glass left over and I decided to just try some new coasters which I could do reatively quickly. These were simply enamel between two pieces of glass, and after they had come out of the kiln I then sandblasted the back of the blue ones above, and one side of the ones below. They are not my favourite, but it was good to try something different.

First attempt at stained glass!

James Lethbridge

Stained glass was the first new technique that we learned in second year, and it coincided with our Inspiration brief. I had done initial research on a few artists for inspiration and James Lethbridge was one of them.

For my stained glass 'cartoon' (accurate template for the glass to be cut to), I simply photocopied a page of my sketchpad on which I had drawn one of James Lethbridge's pieces, and using the lines within the drawing, separated it into sections which would then be the pieces of glass.

I worked on the glass in a variety of different techniques; the first being screen-printing (black), which directly transfers an image onto glass. I chose sections of the drawing that would be screen printed, as I wanted build the image up in layers, and I decided to leave the text on, as it would then be a working drawing, and I thought it would add to the sketchiness.

The second layer was silver-stain (yellow/brown), which I think adds a depth to the glass:

Close-ups:

Leading Up...

The finished piece:

I'm really happy with how this panel has turned out, particularly the bottom half simply because of the colour and the depth that has been created with the layering effects.

A Second Stained Glass Window!

As I liked the bottom half of my first stained glass panel so much, I decided to blow up the same drawing I had used initially and do another panel just of this section on a larger scale.

I used the same processes; screen-printing, silver-stain, sandblasting and engraving:





These photos below were taken on a wooden table rather then the white background on the photos above because it shows up the sandblasting and engraving where the previous photos don't.

The finished piece:

I much prefer this one to my first attempt, I think the first one had a bit too much clear glass on it whereas this one has much more going on and is vibrant and exciting.

Inspiration Continued..

David Flower

I had chosen to look at David Flower as my main inspirational artist for this brief after seeing these blown pieces he had done (example above). It was the contrast between the controlled, structured shape of the pieces and the busy, spontaneity of the interiors that drew me in to his work. It wasn't until closer inspection that I realised there was metal inclusions in Flower's work, and from what I could see this is what had caused the bubbles after he had blown through a material or mesh of some kind.

Luckily, I had been offered a placement at the World of Glass in St. Helens, where I could go every wednesday and help the glassblowers while in return I could be trained and use the facilities for my own work. This was perfect timing for this brief, where I could use the hot glassblowing facilities to try to create a piece inspired by David Flower's blown forms.

Talking to the glassblowers at the World of Glass, they advised me on the best methods on how to carry out a piece using wire inclusions, and we came up with the idea to create a copper cage which could be attached to a small gather of glass, have more glass gathered over the top and be blown through to create the different sized bubbles seen in David Flower's pieces.

Below you can see the first copper cage I made, and I had tried to make them relatively loose and random, so that once it was blown through, the effect would be entirely spontaneous.



This was the result of the first blown form. As you can see it has not come out much like David Flower's piece at all, as the copper had got so hot and soft in the glass that when it was blown into it just stretched with the glass instead of the air going through the gaps in the cage. Despite this though, I really like the effect, and I also love that the copper has turned a purpley red colour.

Close-ups:

With the second attempt, the glassblowers at the World of Glass suggested I colour the glass, and I wsn't a hundred percent sure that I wanted to do this because I like the simplicity of the clear glass and I didn't want any strong colour to take away from the copper inside. Therefore I chose to colour the glass very very slightly, and with a neutral colour, which has worked out well because it just looks like a different type of glass.

Also, what I find interesting is that the copper in this piece has not all turned a reddy colour, some is still the same copper colour which I think works well.

Close-ups:

The one thing I wasn't too keen on was the actual shape of the pieces, I thought they looked a bit too much like lightbulbs for my liking! So I (well..Brian!) cut the tops off at an angle, which made a huge improvement in my opinion.



Now all I had to do was decide how to display the forms, and what I was actually going to do with them! I toyed with the idea of putting them with a fused glass panel which also had copper inclusions in it, and I did do a few test pieces for this but it wasn't something I was excited about, and my gut instinct was that these pieces should be left as independent forms, and the idea of having a flat panel would be taking away from the shape and form itself.

So then I thought of somehow incorporating the copper cages I had made and used for the inclusions but using and attaching them to the tops of the pieces. So I decided to make copper rims for the tops of the glass which the copper wire could almost be sewn through tiny holes.



These rings took me so so long to do as I had to use a piercing saw which are absolutely TINY!! Literally the saw didn't even look like it was moving!! But I got there in the end and it was well worth the pain and effort-


I had measured the rings to be a few millimeters bigger than the size of the glass, to allow for the copper wire to be fed through and back up again into the cage.

SO happy with the results!!

Glassline Chalks

Here are a few experiments I did with my new glassline chalks- chalks specifically designed for drawing on glass. I was really excited about these, because I love creating textures on the surface of glass, and these chalks seemed like they would create the perfect effect for my work. They have to be used on sandblasted glass so that the chalk has something to grip.

I had a white chalk and a grey chalk, as well as black and white glassline pens (literally a pen for glass!). The brief we were doing at the time was 'Inspiration', and so I chose to draw some pieces of work I was looking at for the brief, and therefore work that inspired me.

I have included a photo of the piece before it was fired, as well as the images I was inspired by and used for a basis:

1

Bocci

2

David Flower

Experimenting with Silver Stain

Here are a few test pieces I did at the start of this year, experimenting with silver stain which stains the glass yellow-brown; the darkness depending on the temperature of the firing and the consistency of the mixture. I don't particularly like the effect when it turns the glass yellow, but I love this particular amber result:



After they had been fired, I then sandblasted some areas to remove the silver stain to finer lines than I could have painted it on to. I sandblasted both sides of the glass and I actually really love the results. Even though these were only experiments, I could imagine using these techniques to produce a layered finished piece.