This last week was a hectic one in the studio, I finally managed to transfer 90% of the tutorials from the Blog to the Knowledgebase, so now the tutorials are all in one place and much easier to find and use. Yay! This has been a big worry for me, glad to have it mostly done.
I also started a new body of sculptural work using cast recycled glass. This is an idea that has been calling my name for a while now, and I can finally get around to it. There are two different types of sculptures I’m working on, one is a combination of ceramic bases and cast glass tops. I made ceramic bases first, and then had to figure out how to cast the glass to fit the base shape. I stapled fiber paper around the base and added a nichrome wire to keep the paper nice and tight.
Ceramic bases with fiber paper
I’m using vintage snack trays as a glass source, these things were super popular in Utah in the 60’s and 70’s, so there are hundreds and hundreds floating around.
Here is the glass on the base after firing, lots of cold work to look forward to:
And here’s the first one after round one of coldwork, sawing into shape and the first pass at polishing, still rough, but I think it will work eventually.
The other sculpture I’m working on is a casting in a large custom mold. I was hoping for a large circle shape with a hole in the center that balanced on one edge. Here’s the mold I made to start with. This is 18″ in diameter.
I’m using blue bottle glass for this one, I’ve been saving my Skyy vodka scrap for a looooong time!
And here’s the mold filled with 8 lbs of blue bottle scrap.
and after firing:
I made the vertical wall around the hole too vertical, so the glass cracked as it cooled and contracted. So, no big glass circle, but I’ve re-imagined it as an arc, and all is well.
The summer is starting to wind down, and I MUST de-hoard the bottle stash before the leaves fall on them, so this is happening until 8/26/16. So far, I’ve cut (and shipped) nearly 100 bottles with another 48 set for today. If your into productivity numbers, I can cut 24 bottles an hour into donuts and bottle bottoms, clean 48 per hour, and yes, I am dreaming about sawing! I’ve learned though, if there is no need for me to saw, I won’t, so the need to ship orders is driving the de-hoarding. Whatever it takes.
This week’s thrift store score was amazing as well, 20 vintage glass chandelier rods in flower shapes, there’s probably 10 lbs of glass here, I’m very excited to test and cast with this stuff too.
And finally, my 14 year old cat with chronic kidney disease decided she’s going to stick around and has been eating like crazy, such good news, I’m not ready to part with the furry pest.
Princess Pickle Pie, a.k.a. Ickle
And, just because it’s funny, a portrait of our orange tabby Hobbes done by my daughter. Yes, he really does think he’s a ninja with rainbows. He’s the first orange tabby we’ve owned, and they are funny critters for sure.
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Tutorials have been moved to the Knowledgebase, the Blog is rambling trivial insight into what happens here on a weekly basis.