Monday 18 May 2009

New Glass Project At Chez Gloria - Updated Updated Update!

Well . . finally . . after 20 hours of heat application and another 18 hours of slow cooling . . the drop slump firing is now finished and the glass has cooled to room temp! Yay! So now we can see how the drop slump worked . . From above . . you can see how the glass has slowly slipped/dropped thro the hole in the mould . . From the side . . From underneath . . you can see how the glass has dropped more in the wider part of the mould than the narrower part creating a curved "Gondola" shape . . Now the glass is cooled down, it can come out of the kiln and I can begin the cold working process on the glass saw and grinder . . to trim off all the excess glass round the top and give the "Gondola" it's final shape. The finished piece won't look quite like it does now . . the glass is thinner at the top of the shape than nearer the bottom . . so I shall shape the sides downwards to give a curved outline and take the glass back to where it is thicker. This is a very delicate process . . cutting and grinding will stress the glass a little and the glass cannot be re-fired to de-stress it . . sooo . . carefully does it! . . That's tomorrows little job!

3 comments:

  1. That's an awesome shape - can't wait to see the final product!

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  2. Looking good - steady hands on the grinding xxx
    Nic xx

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  3. Wow! That bottom picture really shows the shape beautifully.

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