Murrini cane in a kiln: Jellyrolls
January 4, 2011
Last time around, I talked about murrini cane, and the most obvious way to make them in the kiln: A murrini rod mold, AKA “rodpod.”
As I’ve said, I’m not pretending that anything I discuss here is my invention or brand new stuff: Murrini-making is one of the oldest glassmaking techniques. This is just a compendium of methods I use to make murrini in a kiln. You’re welcome to try these; please comment if you have other/better ways of doing this.
Murrini molds certainly can make some beautiful murrini, but it’s a grab-bag affair. The size of your cane is limited to the dimensions of the groove in the mold, rarely more than a foot in length, so the number of murrini per cane is relatively small.
Worse, because the components are harder to keep in place in these molds, canes aren’t particularly reproducible unless you stick with squarish designs. Gravity tends to smoosh everything into a squarish loaf shape, flattening out any round or symmetrical patterns. Stuff may or may not slide around, so it can be difficult to exactly reproduce the same pattern across multiple cane. If I need to cover two or three square feet with identical murrini, I make two or three times what I need and match it by hand; I usually wind up with two or three totally unusable cane from a rodpod.
BTW, this is part of a series that I *still* haven’t finished–never knew there were so many ways to make murrini in a kiln. Here’s the rest of the series:
- Murrini cane in a kiln: Sandwiches, Part I
- Kilnformer’s murrini you can buy
- Murrini cane in a kiln: The rod pod
- Kinda like peanuts
Murrini cane in a kiln: The rod mold
December 22, 2010
FINALLY I’m back in the studio after a seven-month hiatus. I figured I’d start with something easy: Making components for bigger sculptures. Then it turned into this bigger thing, i.e., surveying methods for making murrini cane in a kiln. The whole thing is ‘way too long to publish in a single post, so I’ll break this up into sections. Sorry about that.
I’ve got some ideas for cast, figurative sculptures and vessels that incorporate murrini, bronze and other things. I’m not entirely sure where this is going, i.e., I want to play around a lot before I finalize the series design, so I need a LOT of murrini to experiment with…and I set out to make a bunch.
BTW, this is part of a series that I *still* haven’t finished–never knew there were so many ways to make murrini in a kiln. Here’s the rest of the series:
- Murrini cane in a kiln: Sandwiches, Part I
- Murrini cane in a kiln: Jellyrolls
- Kilnformer’s murrini you can buy
- Kinda like peanuts
The heck with it. Let’s play! (Part 2: Zen gardens)
June 12, 2010
(BTW, you folks know that you can click on one of the images in these posts to bring up a slideshow with more info about what’s pictured, right?)
Most of us get into the art business because we love it…but it’s possible to love it to death. You can get so serious and self-critical about your art that you maybe forget why you’re doing it: Because it’s so much fun. I realized last weekend that I was headed that way, fast. [Read more]
The heck with it! Let’s play! (Part 1: “Glass quilt” samplers)
June 8, 2010
Ever had one of those days where there’s all kindsa work you OUGHTA be doing, but your inner child says “The heck with it. Let’s play?”
That was me last weekend. I finally carved out a whole glorious 48 hours to make art. Excellent time to shovel out the studio, fire a bunch of pate de verre test tiles, mix up a couple of custom billets, redefine some investment facecoats, repair the broken head of the gigantic nude on my sculpture stand so I can get her silicone finished, burn off the new kilnshelf, develop a billet stack order for the recast of Repose, work through a hotcast sequence for Totem II and line up a hotshop to do it in, design that lighted steel stand for Riverflow’s next appearance, pour a couple of wax sheets…
The heck with it. Let’s PLAY!
Will Vinton and a whole bunch of glass
June 4, 2010
Those of you who know me well also know that I’m obsessed with animation. I’ve loved Disney and Looney and Hanna Barbera since babyhood. Yet what turned me on to computers and graphics and 3D and animation and all that stuff was a guy named Will Vinton. The idea that you can build your own world, your own stories, your own rules, well…that’s a heaven that Mr. Vinton introduced me to, long ago.
So it was kinda jaw-dropping to meet him today, judging OGG’s Fusathon glass creations. Nice guy. [Read more]
Fusathon, good works, good fun
May 23, 2010
Saturday was a total hoot, made better by the fact that it was for a good cause. If you missed it, you missed a lot.
Yesterday the Oregon Glass Guild (OGG) held its annual Fusathon down at Uroboros‘ glass factory. We talked glass stuff, made glass stuff, watched other people make glass stuff, tried new ideas for stuff, bought stuff, ate stuff and sang stuff. (well, and I took pictures of stuff, too)
By the end of the day, we were pretty stuffed.
The power of transparency
May 15, 2010
I’m giving in to glass transparency right now, (weird, because I tend to sneer at artists who substitute transparent bling for a voice). What’s utterly fascinating is the almost symbiotic relationship that transparent sculpture has with its environment. I want to learn to use that power in my work, and from what I’ve seen so far, it’ll be a helluva challenge.
Sculpting with glass is, for me, an extreme exercise in controlling the viewer’s eye. The artist directs the viewer’s eye with all art, of course, but in other media that control is largely confined to the surface. A work’s mass and volume are simply vehicles for presenting (or hiding) whatever the artist has put on the surface.
Not so with glass–you can send the eye anywhere you want in that volume; surface constraints only exist if you choose to use them, i.e., opaque the glass.
[Read more]
Vitrus interruptus as a teachable moment
April 23, 2010
Much as I love to whine, I won’t; I’m over my quota for the quarter. However, I’d just like to point out that I HAVEN’T SO MUCH AS TOUCHED A KILN CONTROLLER IN A MONTH!! Is there such a thing as glass cold turkey?
Still, it’s given me some time to process the directions my work is taking, come to a few realizations about what I do (and don’t do) well…and maybe make some course corrections. I think educators and HR people call that a “teachable moment,” which is a whole lot nicer than, say, “screwup.”
Billet plus mold equals …
April 14, 2010
Remember awhile back, when I was petting a huge shipment of glass? (And in my best non-denominational mode had included most all of the blues and greens sold by Gaffer, Uroboros AND Bullseye?) [Read more]
Castuwhine
March 18, 2010
Currents Repose in wax, just before investing. She's hollow with multiple layers of wax. A coat of French Red goes in first for strength in delicate areas, then the cheaper Victory Brown bulks out the rest. This one's in Kat's kiln.
What’s worse than Castuary?* Castuary squared. What’s worse than Castuary squared?
Obviously: Castuary cubed.
I am in Castuary for three simultaneous firings, and it’s driving me nuts. I’ve stuffed my own kiln to the gills, along with Hugh’s kiln and Kat’s kiln, as if I’m in some goofy and rather spendy race to see which spits out sculpture the fastest.
And it’s teaching me a great lesson in the whole artist/show/gallery thing: Procrastination costs bigtime money and biggertime anxiety.