Jen Fuller on Kiln-form glass and the things that inspire it
On a different note: I found the greatest guy in the world to shear stainless for a better plane mold. I learned that you can in fact weld stainless together on a mig if you really need to. I’m stuck on how to kiln wash these. I bought a spray gun and supposedly need to sandblast the mold, then heat them to 500 degrees before spraying. I’m contemplating alternatives… but My kiln fits 6 planes per firing which is a vast improvement from the summer.
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Centaur body complete and ready for attachment to steel horse.
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Vwalla, a success! The back piece for the glass and steel centaur!!
Kiln washing the mold and the finished glass blank for mold of a womans back
I’ve managed to persuade Steve Tilden to collaborate on building a life size centaur this month. What possessed me, I’ll never know but he kindly agreed. I set about casting body molds for a cement vermiculite mold which will hopefully give me multiple castings from the same mold. I’ve tired of making molds that only provide one off’s because bodies are a lot of work to make!
After a year of working primarily on my welding skills I’ve been anxious to get back to working in glass. After laying 300ft of 220 cable in a VERY muddy ground, I counter weighted the hood of my kiln and thankfully all is working perfectly! The only glitch is that I have to decide on the furnace for the house or running a glass load. thank god i have a fireplace or I would have been bummed. For now I’ll start a fire and do glass work when its not miserably cold outside! Im am very much looking forward to the summer.
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7’x3’6” old growth fir from the morrison bridge with steel legs and matching bench
This is my first piece of furniture and have been so delighted, I’ve been hosting endless dinner parties to break it in!
I’ve been carrying these 9’ boards from the morrison bridge around from place to place for 6 years now. Having the space when we moved to our new place in September, I finally got around to making a table for myself. I polished some 1”x2” tubing and got to welding.
Over the last six months it’s obvious I stepped away from projecting my process into the ether… here’s what i was doing instead; including cleaning up my work space, getting plenty of rest, and writing down EVERYTHING.
Up next: the things I’ve actually finished because of it!
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Hands and tools series:
New steel airplane mold test firing. An opportunity to test fire the new kiln as well as a test to check my mold for shape. When all is running smoothly i will be firing three planes a day for a month to create an installation called 30 days to fly. A piece about consumerism and an opportunity for me to stretch myself into full time glass work.
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Kiln set up and running.
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Attaching ceramic baton buttons (say that ten times quick) to the kaowool kiln lid. Just add tinfoil and we’re off and running!
Prepping for this summers glass paper planes project. The test run of paper planes for size and scale in the garden, then drafting out on steel for glass molds.
“The way of an artist is slow and tedious, some times you have to be tough and stupid”
thoughts from winnipeg 2010
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At last the frame for my kiln is finished!!!! This will be moved to my summer studio and tested out this week.
