frogvalley -
Wednesday, December 10, 2008 - 11:12pm
Thanks for compliments.Love the dogwood in the ikebana, btw. I'll have to remember that idea and put my own flare on it. And don't worry I'll behave if I walk into a gallery and see your work, I won't compete on your turf.
So back to the matter at hand, glass in sculpture. I have created about 20 or so glass/metal works in collaboration with two different artists here. Angela Matthews-fused glass, and Veronica Wilson-stained glass. I work with the stained AND fused glass people so different effects and methods have been tried. And of course I use some glass directly off the shelf from Blenko glass. Thats the big chunky stuff.
Several of the works shown here are done by simply gluing the glass in place with an appropriate color of 25 yr caulking compound with silicone in it. Clear, bronze, black, grey- lots of colors for lots of different sculpture.
The styles where the glass is "caught in the branches" simply has the iron forged to make a pocket in which the glass has a support from front and back but can taken out from the top. This works for the chunkier type of glass, but for thin glass it doesn't. The iron is forged with a little tension on the glass to keep it from rattling, that tension will break thin glass.
More delicate work involving detailed thinner glass work requires a lighter touch. I use either screw on padded tabs or padded slots with some sort of lock in tab. For the stained glass/metal pieces I will often use screws to attach the metal frame of the glass piece to the metal frame created in the sculpture. For an upcoming work, we are going to drill holes in the glass and bolt it directly to the metal. We'll use rubber spacers and washers to pad it, but the bolts are for effect and function. So it depends.
Mark Schwenk-Artist and Blacksmith
Frog Valley Artisans, LTD
A Growing Artists Collective
http://frogvalleyforge.com
Glass in sculpture
Thanks for compliments.Love the dogwood in the ikebana, btw. I'll have to remember that idea and put my own flare on it. And don't worry I'll behave if I walk into a gallery and see your work, I won't compete on your turf.
So back to the matter at hand, glass in sculpture. I have created about 20 or so glass/metal works in collaboration with two different artists here. Angela Matthews-fused glass, and Veronica Wilson-stained glass. I work with the stained AND fused glass people so different effects and methods have been tried. And of course I use some glass directly off the shelf from Blenko glass. Thats the big chunky stuff.
Several of the works shown here are done by simply gluing the glass in place with an appropriate color of 25 yr caulking compound with silicone in it. Clear, bronze, black, grey- lots of colors for lots of different sculpture.
The styles where the glass is "caught in the branches" simply has the iron forged to make a pocket in which the glass has a support from front and back but can taken out from the top. This works for the chunkier type of glass, but for thin glass it doesn't. The iron is forged with a little tension on the glass to keep it from rattling, that tension will break thin glass.
More delicate work involving detailed thinner glass work requires a lighter touch. I use either screw on padded tabs or padded slots with some sort of lock in tab. For the stained glass/metal pieces I will often use screws to attach the metal frame of the glass piece to the metal frame created in the sculpture. For an upcoming work, we are going to drill holes in the glass and bolt it directly to the metal. We'll use rubber spacers and washers to pad it, but the bolts are for effect and function. So it depends.
Mark Schwenk-Artist and Blacksmith
Frog Valley Artisans, LTD
A Growing Artists Collective
http://frogvalleyforge.com