The Glass Studio

The process for creating sculptures and awards incorporating fused glass and native hardwood usually starts in the glass studio.

Each piece starts as a clear glass base which I cut into the desired shape. I then cut layers of the coloured glass to lay on top of the base glass, to create my design. All of the glass is cut by hand with a diamond glass cutter. Sometimes I used crushed glass to create the different effects.

The glass component is then placed into the kiln and fused together over a period of 24 hours where the temperature is raised steadily to maximum temperature where the glass becomes a liquid then steadily cooled back to a solid state and room temperature. The layers of glass will now be fused together as a flat disc or panel. This process is called fusing. The fused glass can be incorporated into some sculptures and awards in this form but for others it requires an additional 24 hour period in the kiln where the fused disc or panel is placed on top of a ceramic mould and the temperature is raised steadily in the kiln to a point where the glass becomes soft enough to bend into the shape of the mould. The temperature of the kiln is slowly reduced so that the fused glass disc or panel returns to solid state (room temperature) and maintains its new shape. This process is called slumping.

Any engraving required on the glass element is created by making a stencil then using sandblasting machinery and finally by colour filling the sandblasted design/text to make it stand out.

The next stage for the sculptures/awards made from fused glass and native wood is to move to the workshop to make the wood element of the sculpture/award.

The Workshop

The wood store houses my wood blanks, these are all kiln dried native timbers.

The wood store is kept at a constant temperature to maintain a minimum moisture content in the wood. I select the desired wood blank depending on the grain, colour and thickness and take it to the workshop to start work on it using the wood work machinery. The majority of my sculptures are made using my lathe, this process is called woodturning. The majority of awards are made using other machinery such as a bandsaw, pillar drill and sanding machines.

Any carved detail, metal inlays etc are carried out in the workshop after the processes above.

The next stage requires the sculpture or award get several coats of oil. This takes place over a few days to seal and protect the wood.

The final stage is the fused glass element being fitted to the sculpture or award and a photo of the finished sculpture or award is taken in the studio. We keep a bank of all our images and you can see our portfolio of work here.