Sneak Peek

_{(please click image for full view and scroll right)}

Title: Sneak Peek
Artist: *AJGlass
Image: Created by 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, CiM)
Description: Glass beads in a Skutt GM10f kiln.

Details: What you’re looking at are a few hundred dime-sized (or smaller) doughnut-shaped glass spacer beads sitting on mandrels in my kiln. The orange beads on the bottom are called Creamsicle, the purple ones behind them are Grape Ape, and the transparent ones behind those are Medium Topaz. At the very back of the bottom row, the ones you can’t really see are called Lapis Cobalt. On the top row, the yellow ones are called Sunshine and the orangish-red ones are Yellow Apricot.

The white drippy coating on the kiln shelf is called kiln wash. It’s painted on as a liquid and then dries to a white powdery coating. Kiln wash is used to keep molten glass from sticking to the bottom of the kiln, the shelf, or to anything else that the wash is applied to.

The kiln furniture is all ceramic, as are the right and left sides of the kiln – behind which are the heating elements. The holes allow the heat to radiate from the elements into the center of the kiln, thus heating the beads to annealing temperature. The back and bottom of the kiln are made of firebrick. The black bar at the center top of this image, and sticking out into the kiln, is the thermocouple which measures the kiln’s internal temperature.

To see more of my kiln, please view my Studio Skutt GM10f Kiln deviation.

Discussion: I’ve recently been very busy making thousands of spacers to replace the ones that were sold during a previous show. I’ve also been making spacers out of a number of new glasses (colors) that I’ve recently purchased. Currently, I’m working on making just solid-colored spacers, or spacers which are created from a single type of glass rod with no further embellishments. Later on, I’ll be making spacers which are more interesting – those that are fritted, dotted, reduced, enameled, or pixie dusted.

Once annealed, all spacers are drilled, calibrated, temporarily strung, priced, tagged, and then inventoried.

I can’t wait to sell them at the next show!


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.


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