Improvisation

 Today we had a presentation  on improvisation..... the presentation certainly got me thinking about things, and although I feel I improvise quite a lot anyway within my work, it has given me the idea to push myself into using other mediums within glass work.  

I teamed up with Doreen to swap scopes, and the idea that she gave me to work with was "Pampas".

First of all I had to do some research on this grass as, although I have a rough idea of what it is, I haven't really come across it or used it or really taken any notice about it in the past.

So, from research I have found out that not everyone loves Pampas grass. It is considered a weed, a pest.  In South Africa it is considered a category one weed and must not be grown. It is banned from sale and propagation.

That puts a slightly different slant on how pretty this grass is.

It is a fire hazard too, with reports of it catching alight from the sunshine and burning out of control. 

Many gardeners use fire as a way of controlling the growth of the grass, which can also be a risky business, it obviously needs to be done in a very controlled and safety conscious way.

Now I have to come up with a plan of how I can use this information to translate into a piece of glass...

I might try to show the prettiness of the plant, but also try to depict some destruction as well, maybe within separate pieces that work together but also work on their own.

Watch this space....

My Sustainability moodboard.

My next uni project is based on Sustainability.

To work with glass takes quite a lot of energy. The kiln I use for fusing and slumping is electric, and it could easily be said that the installation of solar panels to power that kiln could make it, in time, more sustainable than it is at the moment by using the national grid.

Lampworking the glass uses tanked propane and oxygen.  The oxygen tank could be replaced by an Oxycon which is run off electricity, but even though I have researched this I cannot find any information to say which would be better for the environment.

Propane is classed as a 'green fuel' as it's carbon content is much lower than other gases therefore its carbon footprint is lower.  Although it is still classed as a fossil fuel it is one of the cleanest burning ones.

To make this project more sustainable than I would usually work  - I am only going to use glass that has had a previous purpose.  In this case mini wine bottles.  I collect mini wine bottles wherever I go because it seems to be such a waste not to do something with them - and over the years I have managed to collect quite a few of this shape.

When you melt glass you have to work alongside the 'coefficiency of expansion', which is simply a measurement that tells you the rate that the glass will cool expand and contract when it is heated and cooled.  Glass with different COE's will not work together as one will cool down quicker than the other and cause a thermal split... the glass will simply separate, or shatter.  So, it is a risk when working with recycled glass as you obviously don't know what the COE is.

But my reasoning is that the wine producer for these bottles, PROBABLY orders them from the same place each time, which PROBABLY uses the same recipe to make the glass, therefore they might PROBABLY work together when melted.  It's a risk.  :)

This project is therefore going to be one to try and raise awareness, to try and make people think twice about just throwing things out, to encourage recycling and upcycling and to show that you can create something new out of something old.

I have decided to make a clock out of the bottles... I found a beautiful glass flower made simply out of blue wine bottles which inspired me to follow that shape.  From this image I have built up a mood board showing the things I will use and highlighting the things that are happening to our planet right now that we need to address.  The clock part will indicate that time is running out if we don't make changes now.

Metamorphosis project planning.

 One of my assignments for the Foundation Module 020 'Foundation to Creative Practise' is to do a project based on Metamorphosis.

We have to use a set of words that are opposite each other, then go from one word as a starting point to the other as a finishing point, showing a difference along the way.

Working in our chosen pathways  (mine is glass) we have to come up with an idea and a finished project of how we can do this.

So, as an initial thought, I decided I might do a set of 5 glass vessels - flat plate to vase, with bowls in-between.

I started with a sketch - it doesn't look much like what is in my head, but I am really not very good at drawing.

I also thought I might work on two sets of words at the same time.

Transparent to Opaque

And Bud To Bloom

The Transparent to Opaque would run from the flat plate through to the bud vase, while the Bud to bloom would work in the opposite direction.

It's quite a simple idea, but hopefully it will fit the brief.

And now I need to go and find my kiln under all of the rubbish in my Glass Workshop  :)

Wish me luck?!