This was a design for entrance sconces on either side of a large doorway to a restaurant. The project was terminated halfway through. Shit happens...
I made this one,and the jigs to reproduce the REVERSE shape which starts out as 3/4 x 3/4 solid square stock. They were to be mirror image spirals of one another,which would have been impressive. This slumped glass bowl (made by a friend) was 12"in diameter and was intended to look like tortoise shell(which it really did). The clients accidentally broke the bowl when I left the piece for their inspection...
Sometimes everything goes wrong that possibly could. This was one of those times. I was surprisingly unfazed however because my vision got realized in spite of everything. I thought it so beautiful that I'm confident someone else will step up for it eventually.
The steel tube coming from the bracket on the wall will have the wire in it and the section touching the glass will be hollow. The wire comes out of the wall, threads through the tube and forged square stock,and goes into the glass bowl through a hole behind it to the fixture inside...Or so that's my theory if anybody orders a pair of these...I may think of a simpler way but that's the solution thus far. This piece is nearly 4 ft. long and I've forged another pair much shorter,so I have a few to mess around with to eventually get it right.
I learned an important lesson early in my career (maybe from my old man I'm not sure),and that is to make the PROCESS be the thing that turns you on NOT the OUTCOME.
So for me it has always been a phenomenal stroke of luck that I have somehow arranged my affairs to get PAID to do this work that I love so much. The striving for beauty is my biggest motivator,the money is secondary. I know I'll never get rich with that attitude but from what I've seen wealth is generally over rated. Far better to live ones life doing the thing that you enjoy the most. And indeed when I'm gone I would much rather be remembered for objects of beauty (like this) than for having a large bank account...