Recently, I have been hard at work preparing for this weekend's City of Craft event, happening Saturday and Sunday. I would like to share with you a few photos taken today which illustrate some of the processes involved in the making of my glass items. Photo credits go to my pal Steven Woodruff.
In the first photo I have a small bubble of coloured glass which I have partially covered in 23k gold leaf.
In photo #2 I have added a layer of clear glass and I am shaping it with a newspaper that has been specially folded and soaked in water.
Photo #3 shows the bubble immersed in the pool of molten glass (1150°C) while I am "gathering" more glass from the furnace onto the bubble.
In #4 the bubble has been freshly coated with new glass from the furnace. You can see how the gold leaf is beginning to spread throughout the bubble and is glowing brighter than the glass.
The glass must then be shaped again with the wet paper (#5).
Photo #6 shows me dripping off the excess glass from my final "gather" from the furnace. Now that I have gathered all of the glass that I will need to make the piece I can begin to start inflating the bubble and sculpting it into it's final shape.
Although the glass appears to be a red or orange colour while it is still hot, this particular piece will be a transparent blue colour tomorrow, when it has cooled to room temperature. The flecks of gold will retain their original colour from photo #1.
You may now be wondering what exactly it is that I was making with that big blob of glass on the end of a pipe? Well I encourage you to come join me at City of Craft to find out!
City of Craft
December 12+13, 2009
The Theatre Centre - 1087 Queen Street West, Toronto
