Aquatint

first layer of bitumen after acid

Since the print studio was open (to anyone) 3 days over the holidays, so I had to go in at least once..the glass studio is closed in the holidays to undergrads. Since I had stuffed up my first griffin plate in the aqua tinting process, I planned the second one with more care..

first layer of bitumen before acid

second layer of bitumen

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Holiday breakfast

To at least celebrate the holidays in someway (I'm planning to do uni work mainly) Dougie and I went to one of our favourite Café's for breakfast...which turned out to be a dual celebration for Dougie's return to driving the van. Whilst munching through a delightful french toast and berries (for me) and a DIY vegie breakfast (for Dougie) Dougie noticed something hanging from underneath the van (he had the window view). On our return to the red van I was asked to check the underneath of the van to see what bit was dangling. I couldn't see anything..even when I laid down flat on the road. Dougie not being able to do this, was slightly unbelieving...so I whipped out my camera :)..Do you believe me now?

Beauty or the Everyday?

hmmmmm
Essay questions.. I have narrowed it down to
Everyday
"Art that engages with the everyday often hopes to reveal the unnoticed and the quotidian. It shows the everyday as a shared space of experience that connects viewers through an examination of the familiar and the reality of the mundane."
Drawing on the work of 2 contemporary artists and 2 theorists, expand this analysis with specific reference to the strategies that are used to comment and create work that deals with the everyday and the quotidian

Beauty / Pleasure
"Art is for aesthetics what the birds are for ornithology." (Testadura and Bruce Newman) In Arthur C.Danto's book, The Abuse of beauty he suggests that beauty became viewed as an aesthetic crime committed by artists who pursued that ideal in their art. With reference to Danto and 2 contemporary artists, analyse in critical terms the ways in which beauty is engaged in their work, and the implications - if any- of their pursuit of this topic.

Blaschka inspired flamework workshop

Over this weekend I am TA (technical assistant) for Mark Eliott who is teaching a borosilicate flame-working course at Sydney College of the Arts. The course was organised by the Australian Museum, who not so long ago re found their collection of Blaschka sea anenome glass models.

Mark did a talk /demonstration at the museum that was obviously so popular people wanted to try it for themselves. This weekend was the second course that was run. We had 10 participants with varying backgrounds. All had fun I'd say.

A wall of Griffins

I totally ruined my first griffin plate with my inexperienced and slapdash idea of aquatinting..so I made griffin plate 2..with some experimentation with line and inked up in black and then some colours. The glass studio was closed today, so headed over to the print studio. Later I tried some watercolour hand tinting..I think I like just the ball of wool coloured.

Maze full scale

Thanks to the 'trammels'  that Marcus lent me, the circles were easy to draw. It took most of the day, given interruptions, chats and coffee breaks.

Studio theory - 9

and the Mutant material roll up for this week was...
Kate: Memory metals 'Nitonol' Artist Sergey Jivetin
Ana: fibre optics, LED's. Thomas Hetherwick's seed Cathedral and Skin probes fashion
Mel: Gel Flex
Nadine: Digital printing on glass (Diptech)
Tim: Carbon Fiber

Designed the maze!

At last I have the design for my maze. I tested it on Dougie to see if it was too easy..though if any one else could give it a bash that would be great - though I'll try and get a better render up soon
The outer circle rotates.

Maze mould test

So changing tack, i'm using wax strips to make the model for the mould..much easier!
This is the mould I made yesterday for making wax sheets. I used a glass about 10mm thick (the width of the 'hedges'). Doesn't it look like chocolate? I swirled some darker wax into the paler.

After the wax has cooled, I peel it out and cut it into 3cm wide strips.
To test the furnace glass I'm just making a test, with all the likely components.

I almost got the test in..though I had trouble with getting it off the table..it took half an hour..lesson learned. Either grease the table or put it on a sheet of perspex or glass!

Object theory - 8

Mutant material presentations...Ferrofluid, Precious Metal Clay, Cemets, Keroflex and a Ceramic polymer combination.

Blowing with Ana

Ana and I had a blowing slot from 1.30 to 5. I made a jug and a tumbler, maybe 2 tumblers. Ana is making bubbles for a chandelier project, after asking Marcus for a demonstration Ana's bubbles were great!

Studio day - etching / Aqua tints

I started the day by making a sheet mould, while that was drying I headed over to the Print media studio to finish my aqua tint and print it. I'm not to impressed with my results..I hadn't really given thought to how I was going to tint the image..and it took a while to get the back to front process straight in my head..so after lessons learned I'll start again with the Griffin.

Hot shop with Lene

Lene is back teaching us blowing again. While she teaches Rob minds tiny little Selma in the hot shop courtyard..talk about starting early! The rest of the class are starting to practice the methods and shapes for their projects (I'm tagging along on this one as I'm doing the print elective). So I made an impossible glass with a colour overlay body. I'm pleased with the evenness of the colour. Nadine tried another interior fold, Katie made a few bowls and Sarah tested the cupcake colour powders in the optic mould.

Mutant material

hmmm
Ferro fluid? Areogel? amorphous metal? metal foam? graphene?
Materials Research Society

Filing cabinets, tree stack and new life

Erica and I picked up the 2 drawer filing cabinets I bought from  Reverse Garbage on Saturday. thanks Erica!
My tree stack was ready to get out of the kiln..there had been a slight dam burst..as you can see with the bottom right corner.

I've done some rough trimming and grinding.

Also my best friend gave birth to a baby boy this morning!

Father's day

Leaf bowl

I finally made a mould for this one..I'm hoping that the light will do similar things with the glass that it does with the wax.

Tree slices

Prints are fused... look so cute I didn't want to stack them

back in to full fuse in a stack.

Studio day

Public transport aside this was a productive day. I had a meeting with Marcus to discuss the ins and outs of casting furnace glass and possibilities for the mechanics of the revolving maze. Some good ideas for making the model were suggested too..good half hour!
I screen printed the slices of bullseye for the tree and put them in the kiln for the enamel to fuse.

Then later I went back to the print studio to press more etchings, this time with 'better' paper. I wanted to print the Gryphon in red..Claude did say that red was a problem colour..being a bit transparent. When you look at that tub of thick rich colour it's hard to imagine...but she was right. I fiddled with leaving more ink on the plate (as you can see)

Impossible glass collection

Here is my impossible glass collection so far.

Glass class - 6

A quick catch up with Kirstie.. and I started in on my block of Bullseye. The idea is to get to know the Machine room tools in a different way. Carving a block. Unlike wax there is no adding back of material.

Hot shop - 6

Colour overlays and large objects

First day of

SPRING