 |
The
Glass Process
When we have decided on a design, our first
step is to create the correct colors out of glass. Each color
stripe in the glass is called a cane, and must be hand made
before we can begin. In this process the dense color we have
chosen must be covered with clear glass and stretched out
(sometimes to lengths of 20 ft. or more). The long pull of
color leaves us with the desired shape, size, and color density
for just one of the colors in each piece. After all the colors
of a design have been made into these canes we can start to
make the beginning patterns for our line of glass.
Each cane is cut and laid out next to one another on a ceramic
like plate, creating the sequence of color. This plate and
pattern is placed into a heating oven (called a glory hole)
to begin melting the glass canes together. Using extremely
high temperatures around 2000 degrees) the canes are fused
together. The flat pattern is then rolled up around the end
of a blow pipe and the glass blowing process begins. We layer
molten clear glass over the canes to create more mass, then
the glass is blown up and expanded, stretching and lightening
the original pattern. The glass is shaped using a variety
of metal and wooden tools and once finished, it is placed
into a cooling oven which starts around 1000 degrees. This
oven slowly cools the piece over a course of 12 - 15 hours
until it reaches room temperature.
|
