Networking in the Glass world

Networking : that should be the most important word in anybody’s vocabulary: to connect with people who share similar interests, who can in turn introduce you to other people in the industry.
During that particular year, a fusing glass course was offered in Cape Town and I knew this was a perfect networking opportunity. The course was organised by South African glass artist Nelius Britz of the Edge – Cape Glass Studio (left) and renowned Dutch glass artist Frank van den Ham (right) was presenter, teacher, artist all in one.

The course didn’t only touch on the design aspect of creating beautiful glass pieces, but shed serious light on the technical side. Frank elaborated on the crucial importance of knowing the technical and chemical properties of glass and how the different glass melting processes determine the final product. Sometimes it felt like being at school again in physics class.

Before and after a full fuse and slump, with a clear change in colour. Knowing the properties of the glass you use is imperative to the final result.

We went through the different processes of tack fusing, full fuse, drop mould, etc. The variety of glass enthusiasts attending revealed itself in the range of different glass items that were made.

After that year I kept in contact with the studio, even though the distance between our towns makes it a bit more difficult to attend exhibitions on a regular basis and “network”.

First introduction to warm glass

At the evening classes Amanda had tempted me with all the warm glass techniques the full times students were experimenting with and now it was my turn to start playing.

All of a sudden I was thrown into a kaleidoscope of materials and equipment and the first term we spent experimenting.

I learned :

The importance of the compatibility (or the lack thereof) of various brands of glass and how a different COE (coefficient of expansion) can ruin your work, if you don’t pay attention. We had the opportunity to work with Bullseye glass, which is specifically developed for the warm glass industry, but most of our experiments were conducted with the cheaper float (window) glass and cathedral glass.

How a glass kiln works and how different it works for glass compared to ceramics. (right a kiln traditionally used for ceramic firing, left a kiln more specifically designed for glass with top heating elements.)

What is ramping and annealing and how important it is to know how it works and how to implement it.

Different techniques like: tack fusing (clear 3d definition retained of 2 or more layers of glass), fusing (various layers of glass completely integrated (melted) into one smooth surface definition), fusing with inclusions and what is suitable for inclusions (e.g copper , foils, etc) slumping (glass will adopt the form of a mould or may drop through a drop mould), kiln casting (firing the glass to a temperature to a consistency of honey so that it can fill a plaster mould - although there wasn’t enough time for me to get serious about the casting process.

(pics left to right: tack fuse, cast, drop mould - the cast and drop mould done by fellow students)

How to work with acid and the serious precautions needed to work in a safe environment.

About oxides and stains and how it can transform a uniform coloured piece of glass in something that can have depth and illustrative imagery.

Amanda let us play for a while, but at the start of the second term we were instructed to start thinking about a project that would combine all the methods we had tested so far.