zoĂŤ dove-many
handmade glass
handmade glass
zoe dove-many
3
methods
handmade glass
00 contents
01 introduction
02 the
studio
03 methods
04 history
Glass is very firm, yet easily breakable. It appears to be halted in time. All of its visual cues lead us to believe it is liquid; it has bubbles and streams and flowing lines within it. However, it is cold and hard to the touch. It is self-contained.
is full of millions of twists and turns, reactions, and evidence of movement left by the formerly alive, white hot material. In a way, handmade glass objects are like fossils or photographs, immortalizing exactly what ocurred at one moment.
Its mystery lies in its paradox: flowing yet frozen, its intricacies gorgeous, yet created by happenstance in a few seconds. It glows and shimmers when the slightest amount of light is cast upon it. Even a small paperweight
In each piece can be found miniature lanscapes, every bit as complex and beautiful as the world around us. The following pages will inspire and answer questions about how to look at glass and how it is made.
01 introduction
7
methods
All of its visual cues lead us to believe it is liquid
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looking into glass
ornament, St. Louis, Missouri
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one can find
a landscape
sand, Wellington, New Zealand
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in a glass ball
ornament, St. Louis, Missouri
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the arctic circle
ice floes, Nunavit, near arctic circle
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in a quiet object
paperweight, St. Louis, Missouri
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lava
volcano, Piton de la Fournaise, Island of Reunion, France
methods 14
in something a person made
ornament, St. Louis, Missouri
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methods
something the earth made
amethyst, Bethlehem, Pennsyltvania
methods 16
a range of colors
glass ornament, St. Louis, Missouri
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methods
gives way to
a range of mountains
Sierra Madre Oriental Mountain Range, Coahuila, Mexico
methods 18
in a hard object
glass ornament, St. Louis, Missouri
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methods
water
swimming pool, Tel Aviv, Israel
glass objects
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introduction
Each of these objects appeared on the preceding pages.
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introduction methods
fruits of careful labor
02 the
studio
sharp
hot
fast-moving
explosive
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the studio
choreography in the studio In a glass studio, extremely hot materials are in constant motion. Glass must be heated to 2700 degrees Fehrenheit to become malleable, and then kept continually rotated on a blowpipe so as not to break its shape.
Workers in a studio are always aware of their space and who is around them. They move in an almost choreographed way, keeping in the back of their minds which spaces they can move freely in and which spaces to be cautious in.
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the studio
Harvey Littleton
When working with glass, temperature is the most critical variable. When glass is hot, it moves. When glass is cold, it becomes rigid. Most of the studio tools are designed to cope with the temperature of the glass to better manipulate it.
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26
the studio
parts of the studio
pipe cooler Sometimes a blowpipe or punty gets too hot to hold. The pipe cooler brings the pipe back to a tolerable temperature.
marver When glass touches the marver, which is at room temperature, the spot that makes contact becomes cooler.
glass furnace Raw molten glass, or batch, is kept in the furnace.
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the studio
pipe bucket
glory hole
The pipe bucket is full of water, so that when a glassblower is finished using a blowpipe or punty, the remaining glass on it will break off and can be recycled.
The glory hole reheats the glass to a temperature where it is malleable.
bench A glassblower uses all of his or her tools at the bench, where a pipe with glass on the end of it can lie horizontally and the glass can be shaped.
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the studio
tools
Jacks can make grooves in the glass where it needs to be broken.
Duckbill shears cut hot glass.
A wood block makes glass into a round, cup shape.
Tweezers can grab, stretch, and shape hot pieces of molten glass.
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the studio
Diamond shears cut hot glass.
Newspaper, when wet and covered in carbon, can be worn like an oven mitt and used to shape the hot glass.
When glass stays out of the oven or glory hole too long, it explodes from thermal shock. Glasses protect workers’ eyes.
methods 30
03 methods
of glass making
31
methods
32
methods
free-blowing Free-blowing is challenging and tedious. However, its process lends itself to collaborative work, leading to what often turns into inadvertent performances by glass artists. At many museums and glass studios, artists will offer demonstrations to spectators.
The method is very old and was adopted by the Romans in the first century A.D. The Syrians brought the blowpipe to Italy, changing glassblowing significantly. The blowpipe opened up grand possibilities in size and shape of vessels. Also, the vessels could have thin walls, so they became more light-reflective and thus decorative.
Harvey K. Littleton Three Bottles
33
methods
Wood Burning Glass Factory “The Art of Glassmaking, –”
free-blowing a gather
methods
01 making
gaffer
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furnace
blowpipe batch
Glass is gathered on a blowpipe.
02 blowing
a bubble
To marver means to roll the glass on a steel table (called the marver) to cool the material. 35
methods
wood block
marver
The glass is marvered.
A bubble is blown inside the glass.
The bubble is shaped.
free-blowing
36
methods
03 attaching
the punty
A punty is a steel rod with a nubbin of hot glass on the end. It holds the vessel by the bottom so that the top can be worked on. Once a piece is on a punty, a glassblower can open up the mouth, curve the lip, stretch the neck, or manipulate the shape in a number of other ways.
vessel
blowpipe
A punty is prepared.
A punty is stuck to the vessel.
04 detaching
the pipe
37
If the vessel is not stuck well onto the punty, it will fall and shatter.
methods
punty
Water cracks the glass at the vessel’s neck.
The vessel is broken off the blowpipe.
free-blowing
38
methods
05 finishing
heat-resistant gloves
Jacks are used to open up the mouth of the vessel.
Water cracks the glass below its base.
The vessel falls off and is put in the annealer.
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methods
An annealer is an extremely hot oven that slowly and systematically cools the glass to room temperature. If a glass object were just left out in the air to dry, it would crack from thermal shock.
Lino Tagliapietra Untitled
40
methods
mould-blowing Mould-blowing arose out of free-blowing to make decorative grooved cups and bowls. For a piece created by an optic mould, the blower uses the same technique as free-blowing, but additionally shapes the form by putting glass into a grooved mould.
A bubble is forced into a mould.
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methods
Glass ornament made with optic mould
Fusing relies on the melting and sticky nature of glass. In fusing, pieces of glass mesh together much like cheese on a pizza.
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methods
fusing
Francis Stewart Higgins Vessel –
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methods
Toots Zynsky
44
methods
fusing
Long rods of glass, called canes, are placed side by side in a furnace.
As the canes melt, they fuse together.
They create a flat sheet of glass.
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methods
The sheet of glass is cooled.
Lino Tagliapietra Coperta Indiana
46
methods
casting
Kreg Kallenberger View at Black Mountain
47
methods
Tom Patti Ascending Red
molten glass used for filling a mould
48
methods
casting
A cast object is
49
methods
not hollow
Barry Saunter Umbilical Male
50
methods
casting Casting is a very old form of object One of the tricky parts of casting making, and it is used not only glass is getting the glass to melt to make glass objects, but also in the correct way. When molten, objects made of metal, plastic, glass is gooey but very viscous, and many other materials in so getting it to move into the tiny manufactured goods. A mold can details in a mold is difficult. The be made of rubber, plaster, or “large ingot� method is shown clay. below, but artists sometimes fill the mold with crushed glass that melts, or they melt the glass in a separate container and pour it into the mold.
A wax model of the object is made.
The wax model is used to create a rubber mold. The mold is drained of wax.
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methods
A large ingot (piece of glass) is placed atop the mold.
The glass and mold are fired. The glass melts into the mold.
The piece is cooled and taken out of the mold.
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methods
slumping
Glen Lukens Plate, s
53
methods
54
methods
slumping
Torso Series John Gilbert Luebtow s
55
methods
Cini Boeri and Tomi Katayanagi, Ghost,
Slumping relies on the sagging quality of molten glass. It takes careful preparation, but the work is done without actually handling the material. The glass simply shapes around a mould.
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methods
slumping
A piece of sheet glass is lain across two bricks and a mould.
All objects are set up in a kiln, where they are slowly heated.
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methods
The bricks fall away and the glass melts around the mould.
The piece slowly cools.
methods 58
04 context
59
methods
how glass came to be
Third Degree Glass Factory St. Louis, Missouri
methods 60
Dale Chihuly
history glassmaking easier by making it with a machine. Consumers purchased machine-made glass, and glassblowing phased out of the common consciousness.
context
In 1962, the studio glass movement began with Harvey Littleton’s workshop in Toledo, Ohio. He and fellow artists began with glass in the molten state, and worked with it to make vessels purely for artistic purposes. The artists brought glass into the world of art criticism, museums, and galleries. Since then,
workshops have sprouted up internationally with the new glass studios. While glassblowing was part of an industry in the past, it is now a creative art medium, with studios for individuals rather than shops for multiple workers.
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Glassmaking was first practiced in ancient Egypt, although the blowpipe was not discovered until the Romans conquered Egypt. Glass disappeared during the dark ages and did not reappear until the late fourteenth and early fifteenth century. It flourished in Italy at the time, spreading through vigorous trade with the West. In Venice, glassmaking evolved explosively and became famous to the area. It spread throughout the West, until the industrial revolution made
Giorgio Ferro/AVEM Flowing Handle Vase
bibliography
62
sources
Blonston, Gary, and William Morris. William Morris. New York: Abbeville Press Publishers, . Cummings, Keith. Techniques of Kiln-formed Glass. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, . Goodearl, Tom, and Goodearl, Marilyn. Engraved Glass: International Contemporary Artists. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Antique Collectors’ Club Ltd., . Hoyt, Homer L. Glassblowing: An Introduction to Solid and Blown Glass Sculpturing. Golden, CO: Crafts & Arts Publishing Co. Inc., .
Lynn, Martha Drexler. American Studio Glass -. Manchester, Vermont: Hudson Hills Press LLC, .
Schuler, Frederic and Lilli. Glassforming: Glassmaking for the Craftsman. Philadelphia: Chilton Book Company, .
Sarpellon, Giovanni. Lino Tagliapietra. Verona, Italy: Editoriale BortolazziStei, .
Warmus, William, and the Norton Museum of Art. Fire and Form. West Palm Beach: Norton Museum of Art, .
Schmid, Edward T. Beginning Glassblowing. Bellingham, Washington: Glass Mountain Press, . Schmid, Edward T. Ed’s Big Handbook of Glassblowing. Jamestown, Colorado: Glass Mountain Press, .
image sources Arthus-Bertrand, Yann. Earth From Above. Harry N. Abrams, Inc. New York. Copyright . Mike Bodnar http://mgbodnar.googlepages.com/
www.jitzul.com
sources
Philip Greenspun http://photo.net/philip-greenspun/
Other photos by Zoe Dove-Many of work at Third Degree Glass Factory, St. Louis, Missouri. 63
Cummings, Keith. Techniques of Kilnformed Glass. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, .
The Landsat Program http://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/
written and designed by Zoë Dove-Many Washington University Sam Fox School of Art and Design set in DIN and Chaparral