Coldworking Changes to Transitions

So I mentioned before I was planning on recasting a few of the Transitions pieces so I could change the way I had been coldworking them. This decision has most definitely come a bit late but you know. 

You can kind of see a little over-spill of glass on the left hand side of the piece above. Well instead of taking that off so it's completely circular from above I have decided to leave it. This will effect how they roll around (on their pointy bottoms) and will weight them so they stop in certain positions. I think this will make them a lot more playful and fun by making the most of an accidental feature. 

Transitions Photographs

I thought I might mix it up a bit by posting some photos I took yesterday of my work from Transitions. These are not the final pieces- I want to coldwork my actual final pieces slightly differently (ooh mysterious. I feel like I should do a post explaining that). 

Transitions. When Will It End?!

Whilst this project was technically over a few weeks ago I have been working on it on a smaller scale along side the current project (Otherwise Unobtainable).

At the moment I have cast (but not cold worked) the three with the palest saturation at 5%, 10% and 15%. 

5%

10%

15%

There's a few things that I'm not hugely pleased with and yet more amendments I am planning on making! The saturation of the 15% is almost identical to the test piece for 30%, so I'm worried that there won't be any gradient- let alone a smooth one! Hopefully I have enough clear glass left to do in between percentages for my last three (maybe 3%, 8% and 13%), I'll have to have a sit down and recalculate a few things!

Another slight problem is that the five percent didn't really work properly as far as fire polishing and a neat surface goes. 

Definitely not flat..

I'm not to sure why this has happened, the other two worked fine. Originally I didn't think it was too much of a big deal and I was planning on just redoing it but now that I have the wrong saturation problem I don't know if that's still possible. 

All I know is that I'm going to need a pen, some paper and a calculator to sort this all out! 

Test: Take Two

This morning my cast from my second round of tests came of of the kiln. 

30% colour saturation.

I think the longer soak at a higher temperature (2.5 hours, 820°C) has definitely helped as whilst there are a few bubbles it is a definite improvement. It's little nobble off the top (from where the glass has ran in) has also smoothed out this time. 

Goodbye, bubbles. 

This afternoon I put the first three from my hopefully final casts into the kiln- which should be out on Wednesday- using the revised kiln program. They're also in the new and improved smaller moulds. Hopefully they come out just as bubble free and smooth!

Waiting.. Again!

On Thursday I put my kiln on again for the next test piece. I decided to only do one this time as I am happy with the colour variation (the reason for doing two before). It should be finished on Sunday but I'm not going to be able to see it until Monday morning! I think I'm even more nervous this time around as I'm not feeling one hundred percent confident with my mould, I don't know if I'm just being crazy but it didn't feel quite right (I have no idea how I can explain this to you). Hopefully it will survive and I can get on with making the final six as soon as possible. 

Smaller but hopefully stable mould. 

Mould Adaptations

Over the last couple of days I have had another mould making extravaganza. Whilst it was very fiddly it was also quicker as the initial waxes I was using this time were a lot smaller. This is because I have decided- in a further effort to reduce the internal bubbles- to use moulds with no built in reservoir. I had used plant pots to melt the glass in from in my tests to ensure an even mixing of colour so the reservoir just added unnecessary height between the glass and main form. Really it would have been a better way to go from the start had I of realised.. oh hindsight!

Making smaller waxes using old mould.

Cottling up was slightly more fiddly. Silly sausage fingers.

Unsightly un-steamed mould. Don't judge.

With my original sized moulds I could only fit two in the kiln but these are so small that I think when I am happy with the kiln scheduled etc I should be able to put all six in at once. Hooray!

Test: Take One

First thing on Monday morning I opened my kiln and surprisingly I was very pleased with what met me. For a start neither of my moulds had cracked. I chose to test my strongest and weakest colour gradients and I think the difference between them is very interesting and to be honest just about what I was expecting.

5% colour. 

30% colour.

There was a couple of things that I'm not entirely happy with but I am changing a few things around for my next test- which will hopefully go in tomorrow. Firstly they have quite a lot of bubbles (this is more noticeable in the darker cast) and secondly I made my mould (from the wax) slightly wonky so the tops of them are slightly askew. 

Don't panic though, to try and reduce the bubbles I'm taking my kiln up slightly higher (from 800°C to 820°C) and holding it here for an extra hour. Hopefully this will work a bit better and I will have a clearer over all cast.

Top Form

So it has just crossed my mind that I haven't really said too much about the final form I have decided to use.

Wibbly wobbly cylinders.

I also took a nice picture of my lathe turned piece today. The large base it is on is actually the reservoir and will end up being the top of the cast.

Ignore the hideous bubbles!

Kiln Me Softly

I'm sorry. I'm terrible. I couldn't help myself!

Last Wednesday I put my first test pieces in the kiln, it was very exciting as I had never really done anything like that at all! I even went as far as editing my own firing schedule, changing the annealing cycle to suit the size of my form. Thankfully they're small so it's not that long (41.5 hours) which means I will hopefully be able to make fairly quick progress. 

I decided to do two initial tests; using the most and the least amounts of colour (5% and 30%). 

Hoovered more thoroughly then my flat.

Like Jenga but not as fun.

Disproportionately large plant pots?

When I pressed 'run' I felt as though I was launching a space ship and honestly, I have never felt so much anticipation ever. I don't think I could handle the apprehension of casting on a full time basis!

Colour Gradient

An unlikely part of the project I was really looking forward to was sorting out the different amounts of glass I would need to achieve different gradients. Not wanting to bore anyone with the maths- I know it's not everyone's cup of tea- I have decided to use from 5% to 30% of colour within my casts. I know this might not seem like a lot but lime green is a pretty intense colour and I don't want it to be overwhelming. Also, I think showing the really tiny, subtleties is much more of a skill. 

25g, apparently the same as an empty water bottle.

Cups 'O' glass.

Mould Making Extravaganza

For the Transitions project we were advised by Geoff to use plaster moulds to get our waxes rather then Gelflex as they keep their shape, giving you a truer wax. I wholeheartedly agree with this but mostly because I think Gelflex is greasy and disgusting. If you've never experienced it before just think what your school Plaster-Scene draw was like.. Exactly.

When my plaster mould was completely dry I soaked it in water until the bubbles stopped- wax won't stick to wet plaster.

Timing wax shells (3 minutes).

Plunging the mould into cold water releases the wax shell, this is then neatened up- or if it is too messy just remelted.

Wax shell is stuck to a glass board.

Cottling up. Is that even a word? Who knows?!

Pour the plaster into the walls. Not on the table, floor or your shoes.

Neaten edges and remove clay.

Steam out the wax and thoroughly clean the mould. 

Now to just repeat until there are enough moulds! Surprisingly I actually quite enjoy doing this, I think maybe because it's so repetitive and I have gotten good at making them quite quickly. Small successes and all..

Plaster Lathe Fun Times (or Why Can't I Use a Saw?)

As I mentioned previously the aim of this project was to turn a form on the plaster lathe. What plaster lathe I here you say? The departments newly working one, hooray!

Just creepin' around, castin' some plaster.

During the first week of the project Geoff gave us a demo which at the time looked absolutely impossible but once we started (Gemma and I decided to team up as we had really similar ideas) it wasn't too bad at all- in fact we thought we were amazing. However we very quickly learned that it required a lot more precision and attention then we had originally been giving it!

Centering the plaster.

Our first shape- a tallish cylinder- still had grooves in and wasn't fully smooth and we had prematurely sawed it off. The second- a smaller, squatter cylinder- looked good but unfortunately we sawed it off wonky. So much so that Geoff decided it would make the whole rest of the process a hassle. Third time though- another small, squat cylinder- was thankfully a charm. A badly sawed charm.

(Unfortunately this fell fowl of the next stage; taking a plaster mould of the plaster form in order to get waxes. Not wanting to go into too many painful details but it's tragic demise involved a mallet)

Starting to shape.

Eventually we went our separate ways as our ideas had developed differently and I ended up making a tiny cylinder with an added cone to give it some movement. I really enjoy using the lathe, there is something very satisfying about carving away at the plaster. Hopefully I am going to be able to find time throughout the rest of the year to practice some more- especially at the sawing!

Shape and Form

During the Transitions project one of the biggest decisions to make will be what shape we are going to choose our six forms to be as everything else has been pretty much sorted out for us already (what colour we're to use, how many we need to make, that they will be cast, etc). Also as they are going to be cast from an initial plaster model made using a horizontal lathe they're all going to have to come from a basic shape which has a circular base and vertical rotational symmetry (is that a thing or have I just made that bit up?)

Apologies for the terrible cropping.. 

The two basic shapes that stuck me first were cylinders and cones. Originally I was very keen on just making a simple cone but I couldn't really picture how I would display six of them in a intriguing fashion so I decided to focus more on post-lathe adaptations that would enable them to form some kind of interesting relationship in the way they were displayed, for example stacking. And besides, everyone loves to be let loose with a saw..

..Slightly better here.

I have since chosen my final shape (I have in fact actually made my moulds, measured my glass and got some test pieces in the kiln) but I'm not telling just yet you'll have to guess! Hopefully I will post a collection of photos very soon an all will be revealed..

On a Side Note

Something mildly interesting happened last night whilst I was cropping some images to use in the Colour Theory: Lime blog. For some reason when I tried to paste the cropped image MS Paint decided to invert it's colours and turn it into something marvelously fuchsia. I have absolutely no idea why this happened but I decided to save the image anyways.

Definitely not lime green..

Colour Theory: Lime Green

My new laptop arrived yesterday so I am now officially reconnected to the modern world! Let's get back to blogging, hooray!

The Transitions project has been going very well so far- although some of my mould making attempts have left a lot to be desired!

Like always I tried to start with some research to get the cogs turning but I was a little bit stuck this time around as it came across to me as being very process led. Anyways, I started off with some Colour Theory and tried to think of lime in more of an emotional and spiritual way. Whilst I did find this very interesting I'm not a very spiritual or conceptual person so it was all a little bit over my head.

How to actually go about colouring the glass is something I am very interested in and is a part of my research I have really enjoyed. Ray Flavell and Claude Smale's book 'Studio Glassmaking' was incredibly helpful for this as it has a very extensive section on the chemical make up and properties of glass. It's nice to actually know what chemicals are mixed with what glass and how they create different effects. For example chromic oxides are used to create a more yellow green (lime), whilst cupric salts give more of a greenish blue.

Experimenting with water colours.

So after some research and some making I am still feeling happy and inspired which surely makes for a healthy project?

Heike Brachlow

One of my main sources of inspiration so far in this project is Heike Brachlow, a glass artist who specializes in casting. More specifically playing around with the relationships between basic forms, and colour gradients- perfect for this project!

This is not a style of work I ever thought I would like but I feel totally drawn to them and every piece I see I want to twirl them around on its angled bottom.

Careful I, 2009.

Brachlow has also recently completed a PhD- 'Shaping Colour: Density, Light and Form in Solid Glass Sculpture'- where she delved further into the art of colouring glass by mixing her own batch from scratch. Her thesis is outlined (and also available for download) on her website and is incredibly interesting. For example I had never thought about how the thickness of our glass at different points would effect the changes in colour.

Mirror Movement, 2006.

I think this is intriguing and is something that has really interested me for a while. In the past I have experimented with colouring ceramics using different glazes and glazing techniques but this is my first experience of colour glass casting. Hopefully I will be able to achieve the same kind of playful fascination in others that Brachlow's work stirs in me.

Transtions

This morning we got our first brief of the year. I have to admit I was dreading it a bit as I knew it was going to be casting orientated and that's just not something that has ever appealed to me. Although after reading it I'm feeling rather excited!

We have each been given 1kg of solid colour and 3kg of clear Gaffer lead crystal glass and using only this we must produce six identically shaped cast glass elements (which together must fit into a 40cm2 frame). Through them we must show a gradual change of colour saturation. They're also to be 'showcase' pieces so how we finish them and choose to display them will be very important.

Gaffer colour lead crystal. That's my lime green, I think!

I chose the lime green but the full selection included black, emerald, copper blue, amber and a really pretty pale blue which looked lavender depending upon the light. Exploring colour theory during this project is going to be very interesting as whilst lime green was my favourite colour ten years ago it doesn't appeal to me any more and it's not what I'd call aesthetically pleasing, yet for some bizarre reason I picked it up straight away and was super drawn to it.

At the moment I have some vague ideas floating around but I've not starting exploring anything in any depth. I'm pretty happy about this right now. Good start.