Every now and then I get a wild hair and decide to do something big and bold. What better way to test my boundaries than with a gigantic kiln carving? This piece was created for the Nature of Sustainable Art show at Red Butte Garden from a few years ago.
Spoonbill cranes for kiln carved recycled glass panel.
The cranes are made of multiple layers of 1/32″ thick fiber paper cut freehand and stacked for dimension. The entire fiber paper pattern is built up on a sheet of thinfire, so I can lift and transfer the whole thing to the kiln shelf and avoid leaning over into the kiln for hours! The paper on the right hand side is a regular 8/5″ x 11″ sheet, and is my reference photo for the cranes.
The glass for the crane panel is 22.5″ x 37″ recycled float glass.
Kiln carved cranes after firing (look at the monkeys!).
Here is the panel back on my workbench ready to be cleaned:
Kiln carved Crane panel after firing.
And here it is in the stand:
Kiln carved spoon bill cranes in salvaged steel stand.