7 minute read
SMASHING IT
BREAKING THE GLASS CEILING? CLAUDIA made THE GLASS CEILING.
MONSON ROAD
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GLASSBY CLAUDIA .COM
Ask Claudia Wiegand of Glass by Claudia, Monson Road, about making glass, and you’ll get an expert lesson. Even in casual conversation, her boundless energy and enthusiasm for this art form shines as brightly as the work she produces.
“I’ve been fusing glass for 17 years now, and before that I was a mosaicist. I’ve always loved glass, because it’s a fascinating material. There is something magical about glass, its translucency, the myriad of colours and reflections, and of course its unique amorphous composition which allows it to turn from solid to liquid then back to solid!
I was always ‘arty’ as a child but went to uni to study linguistics then worked in the telecoms industry for 10 years. When my daughter started pre-school, I was lucky I didn’t have to go back to work and decided to sign up for various craft workshops such as silk painting, stained glass, silversmithing and mosaics. I became a mosaicist, making murals and commissions for gardens, kitchens and bathrooms. I really loved it but mosaics is so time consuming, I could only do a couple of projects a year and I was keen to learn something new involving glass.
For my 40th birthday, my best friends gave me a voucher to go on a weekend glass fusing workshop in Bristol, where I learnt the basics of this fascinating art form. I instantly fell in love with it, said goodbye to mosaics and never looked back.
I got my kiln as a birthday present from my mum and dad, and that’s how I got started, in the garage.
I was just doing jewellery at the time, developed slowly, and took some stalls at events such as the National Wedding Show, and at a trade show in London. The buyer of the National Trust at the time was looking for new suppliers, and they selected me. Thanks to that, I could open a studio and it progressed from there.
Life happened, and I closed the studio. I met my second husband, and it was thanks to him that I restarted. The kiln was under a tarpaulin, and he encouraged me to take up the craft again. I took another studio, with a shop, so that I could actually make and sell on the premises, which for me is the best formula because I can sell to customers who want something bespoke, made to order. Visitors and customers can see me working, get an insight into what glass fusing is about and enjoy a unique shopping experience.
I had five kilns at the time, so I had really expanded, so to find studio space was tricky, and they stayed in storage for a good six months! We moved to Tunbridge Wells around five years ago, and this is my fifth move since coming here, each time a bigger and bigger studio. I joined some galleries, and did some exhibitions, but I knew I just had to reopen a space where I can both make and sell, and that was the beginning of 2020.
The shop was empty, and had been completely refurbished by the landlord, and I thought, I’m going to go for it!
I basically opened right in the middle of the lockdown, September 2020 - open, closed, open, closed. But I have to say, right from day one, it was a real success. It’s been amazing.
December 2021 was my best ever December, in the past 20 years.
Where the shop is situated, I feel as though I’m amongst the creative sector of town, close to Camden Road, and Royal Victoria Place, and with the Amelia opening here, which is great. It’s brilliantly situated because there are car parks and people walking past, so I have really good footfall. But the perfect balance, as I’m not so overrun that I don’t have time to do my work!
I’ve still got people coming from further afield, but I’ve also got local customers from Tunbridge Wells, and a lot of returning trade.
I enjoy being part of the community here, I’m a partner of the TN Card, I know my neighbours very well, and go to Saltmarsh to buy my materials. I was commissioned by the Camden Road group CREATE to produce glass charms to go in the windows
of Camden Road businesses, and I made over 100, which was great, I met a lot of business owners that way.
Since opening my shop, I am supporting local businesses around it more and more by shopping and dining out locally. I really want to offer something to anyone who loves glass, whatever their age and budget, so I make a whole variety of small to large decorative and functional pieces, ranging from small decorative items to tableware, home accessories, wall artwork in various sizes, 3D statement pieces, splash backs and even door panels. I really enjoy the challenge and opportunity to create something completely bespoke and personal for my customers. We often discuss a concept together and when making a completely new design, I always fire colour swatches and samples before creating the final piece, to ensure my customers are happy and involved at every stage of the commission process.
I now also offer a selection of ceramics and sterling silver jewellery made locally by artist
friends. I select work which complements my glassware and this gives even more variety and choice for my customers.
I use specialist fusible glass, which comes in a fantastic range of colours and accessories. I cut sheet glass in the same way as you would cut tiles, by scoring and snapping pieces. Every bit of glass has to be cleaned to avoid contamination that results in devitrification (where the glass loses its glossy surface), then it’s all a matter of building layers of the different coloured pieces and assembling your design in the kiln to be fired.
I also use paint, glass granules called ‘frits’ and other accessories such as metal foils to embellish my work before it is fused. The
kiln is just like a big oven, where glass is taken to over 800 degrees Celsius, melts to a fudge consistency and the layers of cut glass fuse together to create a single piece of work. The whole process takes about 20 hours as glass doesn’t like thermal shock and needs to go through a number of heating and cooling phases to avoid breakage. Pieces come out of the kiln flat and need to go back in over a ceramic mould for a lower temperature firing cycle called ‘slumping’, which gives them their final shape, such as a bowl, wave or curve. During that cycle, the glass softens just enough to slump in or wrap around the mould thanks to gravity. I always compare glass fusing to cooking and baking... lots of slicing, dicing, layering and sprinkling involved before the baking stage!
Opening the kiln is like opening a surprise gift and I love it every single time.
My designs are predominantly abstract and inspired by nature or simple shapes like circles, squares and curves. I love bold colours but also subtle hues and monochromes, and like to explore different combinations, often influenced by the design itself, the seasons or a customer’s
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request. I love trees and have done since my early teenage years when I first visited England and was fascinated by the ‘dead’ trees along the roads. I paint intricate skeleton trees on a lot of my glass work and even personalise them with names and dates for special occasions like births, weddings and anniversaries.
I like playing around with different fusing temperatures to give texture to my work. I also enjoy discovering new ways of working with glass and attend masterclasses every year to learn specific techniques, which allow me to come up with new designs.” ■
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