Epic Kiln Carving

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.

Kiln carved cranes

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.

Spoonbill cranes before firing

Kiln carved cranes after firing (look at the monkeys!).

Here is the panel back on my workbench ready to be cleaned:

Spoon bill cranes in recycled window glass

Kiln carved Crane panel after firing.

And here it is in the stand:

Kiln Carved Spoon Bill Cranes

Kiln carved spoon bill cranes in steel stand.






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