Soft glass sculpture

[Mountain Snail]

Does anyone do this? I know there are some masters, like Lucio Bubacco that teach but I do not live close enough to the classes. I would love to see some pictures of things you have made and to hear that you really can do soft glass sculpture without it shattering as you move on to another part of the piece.

[Puddy Tat Glass]

If ever you get the opportunity to take a class from Wesley Fleming take it. Here's a link to his site:

http://wesleyfleming.com/

If he's ever out here in the Northwest teaching I'm gonna go...he's at the top of my wish list.

[Cherri]

Did not see this post and I posted almost the same question.
Sorry for the double request.

[bshelle]

You really can do it! The basic concept is that once a section cools, you do not reheat it again. Plan ahead of time.

My first class was with FiG - Michael Mangiafico. He's flat-out awesome. http://www.figstudios.com/
I'd love to take a Kim Fields class. Her birds are fantastic. http://www.northfiredesigns.com/

I've seen sculptural tutorials in the Flow a lot. I'm sure there are some here.

[Little Brushy]

Beau Anderson is very good at soft glass sculpture. I've taken bead classes with him and watched him do a little sculpture work. It's amazing what he can do with a rod of glass and just a few minutes of time. One of the things to learn, is once you've worked on a piece of the sculpture don't ever reheat it. It'll thermal shock and explode.

http://www.beauxbead.com/?cat=9

[Mountain Snail]

That is kind of what I thought. YOu have to start at one end of your sculpture and work your way towards the other, right? As long as you keep it hot you are fine, but then once you cool that you never reintroduce it to the flame? Ahhh! My hands will want to keep it warm. LOL

[Mountain Snail]

Do you ever anneal?

[Little Brushy]

Yes, you do anneal when the piece is finished. Bring it slowly up to annealing temp though.

In my bead class, we did one small off mandrel sculpture, a fish. We started with his tail and ended with his mouth. Once we finished the tail, we never put it back in the flame. That was hard for me. I wanted to keep giving him insurance heat!

Beth

[SharonP]

Here's a video I found of Emilio Santini making a glass goblet with a sculptural figure. It's kind of brief, but you can get an idea...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzEIV...D49FCDDCA78E4E

[Angie09]

Lance at Flametree in Atlanta is terrific at this! Plus he has all the "masters" teach at his studio.

[cgbeads]

This was posted in another thread, but it applies here, too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFwtV...eature=g-all-s

-D

[Mitosis Glass]

How is it that the pieces don't crack? When I'm making beads, if I leave one end out of the flame for too long a thermal crack pops its way into the bead.

Or does that happen because I inadvertently put the cool part back in the flame again?

Also, do you not put the piece in a hot kiln? Beth, you said you bring the kiln up to annealing temperature slowly. Should they go in a cool kiln and go from there?

[Dragonharper]

Originally Posted by FishBulb

How is it that the pieces don't crack? When I'm making beads, if I leave one end out of the flame for too long a thermal crack pops its way into the bead.

Or does that happen because I inadvertently put the cool part back in the flame again?

Also, do you not put the piece in a hot kiln? Beth, you said you bring the kiln up to annealing temperature slowly. Should they go in a cool kiln and go from there?

You actually touch on at least three truths here. 1.) The pieces are thin enough to cool at the same rate. 2.) Either keep it hot or let it cool, don't reheat once it is cool. 3.) Place the piece(s) in a cold kiln and ramp up slowly to temp, soak and slowly ramp back down.

When I make ornaments, I make solid balls about 20mm in diameter, usually I cool them in vermiculite, then I melt the rods off and make loops. I put them all in the kiln and batch anneal. It's not about no stress, before annealing, it's about not too much stress.

ETA: Also you don't have a piece of stainless steel going through the center of your work either.

[Cherri]

Hey thanks for the great stuff so far.

I check this post everyday, sometimes more than a bunch of time a day. LOL

You guys and gals are great.

[Mountain Snail]

I am going to have to train myself not to put the piece in the flame! Ahhh!

[Puddy Tat Glass]

Roy brought up a point I was wondering about..."ETA: Also you don't have a piece of stainless steel going through the center of your work either."

I've yet to see "mandrel made" beads made using this technique. Something I've been wanting to try myself.

[SassyGlass9]

Originally Posted by Puddy Tat Glass

Roy brought up a point I was wondering about..."ETA: Also you don't have a piece of stainless steel going through the center of your work either."

I've yet to see "mandrel made" beads made using this technique. Something I've been wanting to try myself.

This!! I make a lot of sculptural pieces on mandrels, and it is a fine balancing act to keep things warm enough to not shock, but cool enough to not totally melt in the "parts" or appendages, etc.

[Little Brushy]

Originally Posted by FishBulb

How is it that the pieces don't crack? When I'm making beads, if I leave one end out of the flame for too long a thermal crack pops its way into the bead.

Or does that happen because I inadvertently put the cool part back in the flame again?

Also, do you not put the piece in a hot kiln? Beth, you said you bring the kiln up to annealing temperature slowly. Should they go in a cool kiln and go from there?

Angie, yes, what Dragonharper said. Put the piece in a cool kiln and then slowly bring it up to soak and anneal.

I wish I knew more about sculpture. I was fascinated watching Beau make a mermaid in about 15 minutes and then just lay her down on the table, no cracking, no popping.

[Kirima]

After having had the chance to learn the technique from a real Maestro on Murano, I've been doing a lot of sculptures these last three weeks and I am so very happy practicing my new skills! It is so much fun and it feels like discovering a whole new glass world! I just love it.



I do have a silly question about properly annealing small sculptures: I've been reading several times that we should slowly bring up the kiln to soaking temperature and then anneal just normally. Even the Maestro on Murano told me so, he slowly heats up his kiln for 3 hours. Why are we supposed to do it this way? As I've never ever had any cold beads breaking when I put them into my cold kiln that heats up to garage temperature within 10 minutes, I thought I'd give it a try. First I only put "ugly" stuff into my kiln: no problems, no breaking, even the sculpture that already had a little crack didn't break. So yesterday, I did fill my kiln and tried again. No problems! All my sculptures are still alive, no cracks, everything came out just fine, even pretty "huge" figures with solid stands.

So is there a real reason to heat everything up very slowly? As long as I do not have any cracking issues: why shouldn't I continue heating things up quickly?

[beauxbead]

Here is a Soft Glass Sculpture class I am offering in Arkansas ,Sept23-25

This three day workshop is intended for intermediate to advanced flameworkers who want to expand into creating near limitless forms in soft glass. Contact The Arkansas Craft School in Mountain View Arkansas for more info, www.arkansascraftschool.org or sageandtomemail@gmail.com see a few sculptures at beauxbead.com


This is the cheapest flameworking class You will ever find, witch should make it possible for you to fly or drive in to the quaint town of Mountain View, stay in a bed and breakfast and still be cheaper then a class some ware else. If you ask any of my students they will tell you that I wont be holding back any information and we will go over more then you will remember even if you write everything down. Hope to answer all your questions in class.


But for that last question above i will say that the slow ramping rate is standard for all thicker objects in glass; and it is even more important with the loom glass technique you have just learned. Because you are leaving huge amounts of stress behind as you travel from the thick areas to the thin with inherently imperfect transitions in heat from a torch unlike the annealing process from all around.

[beauxbead]

Hi Beth! how are you? Have you been working with the sculpture at all these days?