my process

I don’t tend to design my pieces in sketchbooks as many artists do. As in planning family holidays, I don’t like to know everything about the destination. I love the wonder of what I will discover. So I feel that if I design and draw my piece to the nth degree, a lot of the magic of the journey will be lost along the way.

I like to intuitively work by building up each piece with separate firings. Think of soup ; first frying the onion and garlic and then tossing in the veggies.  I play with “dribbling” glass rods (stringers) from a raised ceramic shelf with a cutout centre. The stringers are either dribbled onto a piece of flat glass or directly on to the shelf.

Then I wonder what colour to place this ‘squiggle’ on and fire again. As I build up the layers, I may add more stringers or coloured glass shards (confetti), powder (frit), paint, imitation silver or gold leaf or copper mesh. The soup pot!

The kiln fires the glass at a temperature of almost 800 degrees Celsius for each fusing. I can set things up in the kiln and have a certain amount of control over what happens but there really is an element of magic with what happens. I never tire of opening up the kiln and finding out what alchemy has occurred.  

Leadlight window repair

I was presented with this leadlight window in very bad condition and enjoyed bringing it back to life.

Daughter's work

At the beginning of the Covid-19 isolation period, my 12 year old daughter made these small (10cm x 10cm) glass tiles for her friends.

glass beginnings

This cast glass boat was one of my first ever projects. My entry into the world of kiln-formed glass, or "warm glass", was by way of a three month one-day-a-week course. This boat is the only piece I still have from that course, many years ago.

There are different methods in creating cast glass. The original form can be made out of wax (this method is known as 'lost wax casting') or another pliable substance, such as clay for example. I used clay for this piece. A plaster mould is then made and the original removed. Glass is placed in the remaining cavity and melted at about 800 degrees celcius in a kiln.

I love the boat form. I'm not even sure why, considering I have fear of deep, dark water. If I can't see the bottom of the river, sea etc then I don't feel safe. If I can see the bottom, then I feel better,  although that depends on what else I can see! But boats themselves, I do like. Perhaps it's the notion of freedom that they offer, in a different way from how a car offers freedom. On a boat you can travel exposed, out in the elements. It symbolizes a meditative tranquility to me. Or, perhaps I love them simply for their form, their shape. The more basic, the more aesthetically appealing, in my view.

dimensions: 16cm long x 4cm high x 7cm wide