Glass Jewellery

This week I have experimented with combining glass and copper (via electro-forming) to make small sculptures and jewellery pieces. I have looked into different ways of joining the two materials, such as encasing a glass bead in copper and constructing wire sculptures/forms around pate de verre.

I am particularly impressed with some of the wire sculptures I have produced, as well as the wire loops wrapped around glass. Hopefully, during the next few weeks, I intend to combine these two techniques and develop my designs, considering these materials as particular jewellery pieces or as small scale sculptures, focusing on the concept of glass as a precious material and visually translating this.

Typography

Along with my glass project this semester, I also started taking a typography course. The lessons and projects started quite late into the semester, which is why this is my first post.  For our projects we were focusing on three-dimensional typography which encompasses any type of typography that uses space and isn’t written or flat. We were also given the theme of ‘Mistakes’ and were asked to write an essay on whether we should or shouldn’t make mistakes alongside our 3D typography.

For me I wanted to orientate my work around glass and what I have learnt this year studying the material, so my immediate thoughts were of broken glass and cracks. However, this was quite a simple idea so after a few discussions about how I could use the glass in more inventive ways, I settled on using the transparency of glass to project shadows, making the three dimensional type.

Ironically, the first piece I made actually had mistakes with the lettering, as the layered, sandblasted glass pieces prevented light from shining through. However, in my opinion, this mistake was the piece’s success as it really emulated the message the type was trying to portray. The only improvement I would make to this piece is the font, as it is too neat and clashes with the broken glass.

The pieces I am working on now have a much simpler font which I feel is far more suited to the visual outcome of my project. With these pieces I have spent more of my time experimenting with the shadows the text makes and how I can manipulate them to emphasise the message. Overall, this project has been really interesting and a welcome change from working in the glass studio: Although I am still working with the same material, I have been allowed to explore design avenues I wouldn’t have considered without this course and by having a smaller project alongside my big lighting one, it has kept me creatively inspired and motivated.

Final Project Lighting Desgin

Since I left Novy Bor, my designs for my final light piece have changed quite dramatically, my tutors felt I should be working on a larger scale and to not let the forms I had already created restrict my ideas. So After two weeks of sketching and talking with my tutors I have come up with my Final design.

It will be a large single light that shall have sandblasted areas on its exterior and inside the sphere will be organic glass forms. In Czech these are called ‘Kopna’ and are usually the waste part in Glass blowing, however in my final piece they will be displayed as something beautiful. My inspiration originally came from Glass artist Luke Jerram, who made large scale glass sculptures of Virus cells.

Luke’s use of detail and cell imagery has inspired my own work and I have tried to replicate the essence and movement of how a bacteria can spread: I have focused more on the sporadic placement and movement of my pieces rather than the accuracy of a particular bacteria. I also wanted to create intrigue within my piece and as I am working with glass I wanted to play with the levels of light, which is why the exterior is sandblasted. This  allows some parts to have a subtle glow whilst other clearer parts act as a viewpoint into the world within.

Final Project Semester 2011/12

Since I have been back in Usti nad Labem, everyone has been very busy finishing off their projects for the end of the semester exhibition. For me, my project was based upon the perception of photographs and how they can be manipulated through editing, layers and applying them to glass. I produced two final pieces, one as a layered landscape of the dormitories I am staying in and the other comprising of 8 glass tiles that can be moved around to create different landscapes; this piece sourced four images, from Prague, Usti nad Labem, Milton Keynes and my Home town.

Overall the exhibition was very successful and I loved seeing all the other final pieces, some of which were very beautiful and inspiring. For the next project I hope to work more with molten and cast glass forms.

Finished Recycled Glassware

After many weeks of hard work, I have finished my ‘Recycled Domestic Glassware’ project. The project itself was to focus on particular domestic objects that I could reproduce using recycled glass as a response to the research I have conducted into Czech DIY and it’s overall reputation in Glass.
The pair of wine glasses you see below were one of the most enjoyable aspects of this project as I perfected my cold working skills whilst producing designs using previous glass forms. In my opinion the combination of glass bottles used are very effective and function as real wine glasses!

Along with the domestic dinnerware objects, I also aimed to create some utensils. Now I had a fair amount of problems with these as I initially planned to cast the handles. However, the recycled glass had too many incompatibility issues so once i returned home I set about melting a shaping the bottle glass using my lampworking torch.
This has also taught me a lot about the glass I work with. Bottle glass has a completely different COE and takes a lot longer to heat up and work with. I was also restricted by the incompatibility issues making colours singular and the application far from delicate. Not only has this part of the project taught me so much technically but I am very pleased with the overall results as the simple beads still managed to appear delicate and decorative on the utensils.

There has been one huge success within my recycled project and that is the jewellery section. This is because I was successful at casting different glass bottles and somehow avoiding the incompatibility issues! Unfortunately, I am unable to explain at present why and how I was successful, but once I return to Usti, I plan to find out!.
With the blended glass pieces and cold working tools, I was able to smooth and shape the pieces, which have become very beautiful jewellery pieces. I am very happy about them and hope to produce more in the future.