New website
Two people are needed during this stage
I am just back from the Manchester gig, and I am poised to start work on the new website.
My plan is to add more of my glass work in pictures and words, a little at a time, so do come back at intervals.
If you have any comments, questions or suggestions on the work in progress, please feel free to contact me using the contact form.
The Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair Manchester 2009
Wave Form IV
I will be exhibiting at the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair at a brand new venue in the centre of Manchester.
Spinningfields, Manchester’s high profile business quarter, located just off Deansgate in the heart of the city.
The Craft Fair is a unique shopping experience and opportunity to see and buy my latest works in a setting of over 140 talented designers and makers in the UK.
Head over to The Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair Manchester to get yourself a ticket.
Waves in Action
The technical details of making this work are involved but I will explain as simply as possible.
The first step is blowing a large 4 gather (dipped in the molten glass 4 times) blank. Colour is applied in the form of condensed coloured glass, which is covered with clear lead crystal. The end result of blowing is a bubble shaped like a very large rugby ball.
This is cooled over night in a kiln and when cold is carved using a diamond saw. Either ends of the rugby ball shape are cut away and smoothed till fine then horizontal slices are cut away on the saw until almost through the wall of the glass leaving very thin contact points between the two sides of the cuts. (more…)
Scent Bottles
Solar Scent Bottle
With perfume bottles my aim has been to move away from traditional blown shapes to design pieces that use simple graceful forms together with precise use of colour and colour combinations. Over the years I have designed and made a wide range of studio glass based on the perfume bottle. I am still exploring unusual techniques in an attempt to create forms well removed from normal glass blowing.
Once you reduce the the form of the bottle down to a container (or two!) an opening and a stopper you can let your imagination run riot. That’s what I love about the idea. As long as functionality is not of prime importance and you think sculpturally about the form you can do so much with the key elements. The body of the form can be completely changed by the introduction of the stopper and the relationship between these two can often lead a really fascinating journey into design. (more…)