"Crocheting" with glass??
 

An artist makes pieces from glass that look like crochet doilies and bowls. How do you suppose she does it? My first thought was she actually crochets a doily, then applies enamels and burns off the doily, but that would not leave the intricate stitches in the design.

Here's an article,

Here is her website. It claims "She crochets and knits with glass," and "each work has been individually knitted or crocheted by hand."

My guess is some sort of intricate mold, or slumping process, but I don't know how that would duplicate crochet/knitting on both sides. Thoughts?? I'm not looking to copy or imitate - such attempts would be futile. Just curious about how it works!

Huh, that's interesting. I have a couple of ideas, but they'd just be guesses.

That's something I've wondered about also. Can you imagine how hot the person/hands would have to be for the glass to be soft enough to manipulate and "crochet?"

My guess is bead weaving with cotton thread which burns off in the kiln, slumping into a shallow bowl shape?

Total guess but do you think she's crocheting seed beeds and then fusing them together in the kiln afterward?

Glass fiber is extremely flexible when drawn down to fine strands, think fiberglass insulation, spun into thin yarn, and then crocheted into various forms. Spray with a glass flux for fusing, and then fire gently.

That is how we would do it, there are probably other methods that would yield something similar. Just stop thinking that glass is rigid and brittle in all of it's various forms... it is a truly remarkable material!

I *think* this is the right title--a very interesting book on how amazing glass really is!
Glass : from the first mirror to fiber optics, the story of the substance that changed the world
by Ellis, William S.

That's amazing; I downloaded and enlarged the pictures; you can see the individual threads and teeny holes, like cotton crochet. It can't be fused beads, they would look clunkier when enlarged; I'm thinking Ed's gotta be right about glass fibers.

Thanks for posting this! I really love the pineapple patterned crocheted glass. :love: Angelique

I'm thinking optical fibre of some sort also.
Silica wick used for vaping is glass.

Wow! I expected them to look like glass formed to sort of resemble crochet, but she REALLY crochets! This is amazing!

It would take a fair amount of time to crochet one of those doily patterns with thread; I can't imagine how she can keep the whole thing fluid enough, yet tensile enough, for long enough to make one of her pieces. Incredible work. I'd LOVE to see a video of her working!

I used to do Porcelain lace draping and wonder if it is a similar method. Pure cotton lace was used. It was dipped in porcelain slip and then the slip was forced through the cotton and cleared of excess. when the object was fired, the cotton burned out and left the porcelain lace. that is how the lace is done on those lovely Dresden figurines. It is extremely delicate though and does not hold up to pressure well.

I would say these were cast, the mold being made from the knitted pieces but I've no idea if that's it. That's what it looks like to me though.

Found this on line. http://www.carolmilne.com/images/Knitting_glass_LO.pdf

And there's this, which is like the above link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossar...lass_art_terms

Knitted glass, incorporates the techniques of knitting, lost-wax casting, mold-making, and kiln-casting.

I would guess it was this technique too - I have some old Dresden Dolls where the skirts of the doll were actual fabric dipped in porcelain.

But looking closely at the photo I'm wondering if it isn't just fiberglass threads?

I used to crochet doilies w/ cotton thread and you have to make some very small, tight knots to get it to look like this with a tiny crochet hook so the thread would have to be extremely flexible and not break for it to work.

WOW. Just wow. I love innovators!