During lockdown, my mind had time imagine new things and as such, one idea came to mind the strongest. Glass clay that you can throw on a wheel and that you can sculpt with. This is my current, and probably long term project. I've started my research this week and I’ve got some results but they’re not quite right yet, however; I’m think I’m getting close at the moment.
I’m trying different glass powder binders and the results are fairly promising already. It’s going to take a lot of small tweaks and trials but I’m excited to see where it takes me.
Here are some of the mixes I’ve completed so far, though they look a little unusual. Different colours represent different binders, so I can differentiate between each mix.
The binders didn’t actually work out as well as I was hoping, I couldn’t throw or sculpt with any of them. However, the research wasn’t a complete failure. One of them looks to be very useful for Evelyn Gottschall Bakers pate de verre technique, which I feel may be a crucial part in the process of throwing clay. However, at this stage it’s just speculative and until my research is complete, I won’t know for sure. I did find out how well they store as well, and surprisingly, if placed in a sealed contained, these binders actually survive for a prolonged period of time. I’m also checking to see whether it is better to fire said pieces straight away on the same day or creating the mixture, or to allow to dry out over several days and how they react to this drying out period, prior to firing.
To my surprise, I found that the binders I created did eventually go off and event began to become moldy after a couple of days. I’m not sure if this will have an effect on the firing process, but I will be firing these pieces at different temperatures to see what happens and how they react. The first set, including my first throwing attempt with one of the mixtures - which still wasn’t right but I managed to throw with - I fired at 700 °C, the next batch I fired at 650 °C and the last batch was fired at 750 °C. I was surprised by the difference the 700 °C firing looked to the other two firings. I quite like the shiny glossy look, but I also am happy that I can get a matt look and feel to my pieces. This gives me more options with the look and feel of my pieces when I fire them.
At this point I know I still have a way to go and I can’t wait to find out what will come of all this research and experimenting. It’s getting really exciting and I really hope I succeed in this endeavour. To be able to throw with glass and even sculpt … who know what the future will hold for the glass art society. I’ll keep you posted with how things progress.
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