Glass Mushroom Farmer

_{(please click image for full view)}

Title: Glass Mushroom Farmer
Artist: AJGlass
Image created by: AJGlass using a Panasonic DMC-LZ7 Lumix 7.2 MP camera and PhotoShop.
Medium: Glass
Type: Soft Glass, 104 Coefficient of Expansion (Moretti/Effetre, Vetrofond, Lausha)
Description: Glass Beads and LEGO Minifigure

Details: The LEGO Minifigure provided is for scale of the glass mushrooms and glass beads. Clear, white, orange, windex blue, pineapple yellow, grass green, and emerald green glasses were used to create these beads and mushrooms which have been annealed in a kiln. The mushrooms took from 15 to 30 minutes each to make. The beads took 3-5 minutes each to make. All of these glass pieces took 18 hours to anneal. No image color correction was necessary.

Discussion: These glass mushrooms were created off-mandrel. Each mushroom was created on the end of a single glass rod and I used another glass rod to add decoration to each mushroom’s cap. I used a large pair of tweezers to hold each mushroom by its stem while I shaped and flattened the bottom portions so that each mushroom could stand up. The largest glass mushrooms were created from 1.5 centimeter-wide rods of clear glass. Large glass pieces are prone to thermal shock and cracking. I was able to pop these mushrooms right into a hot kiln so breakage was minimal.

Further comment: It’s finally springtime here in Michigan. Along with the newly blooming plants come the newly blooming mushrooms. This lucky LEGO farmer has quite the crop of them already.

Legal: Copyright © Aaron J. Greenblatt. All rights reserved. Commercial use prohibited. This image and commentary may not be used for any reason without expressed written consent.

LEGO is a trademark of the LEGO Group. © 2008 The LEGO Group.


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Please click here for images of my glass work located in my other Gallery.

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