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Showing posts with label Week 4. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Week 4. Show all posts

Friday, March 27, 2009

Glass tech, Week 4

Our stacks of cut glass are now fused cubes..some neater than others...ready for grinding and polishing. Marcus had introduced us to the machines but today was a chance to get beyond a little small talk. A demonstration on each machine refreshed our initial introduction. A little daunting at times but getting more confident.

Equipment in the cold working room for cutting, grinding and polishing:

Flat lap or flat bed grinder
Linisher
Diamond saw
Rotary hand tool (dremelesque)

Glass studio , week 4

After last weeks brainstorming of different types of glass, now comes the research
here are the basics for two companies who supply soda lime glass


Effetre /Morreti
www.effetre.com

The Effetre factory is situated on the Island of Murano in Venice, Italy. As well as lighting designs and architectural lighting they supply soft soda-lime glass products that their website refers to as ‘Murano’.
Originally the company was owned by the Moretti family hence the widely known name Moretti. According to one source the company changed hands in the 1980's and was bought by 3 brothers by the name of Ferro. The word Effetre stands for “three F’s”. Since then one brother has left the company.
All sources agree that the current name of the company is Effetre though the name Morretti is still understood to refer to the range of flame-working rod.

Effetre products for glass work: sourced from www.effetre.com
Rod is generally used for flame-work and lamp-work. Think beads and small sculptures.
Filligrana is a coloured rod encased in clear also used for flame-work and lamp-work, though by the pictures on the Effetre website possibly hot glass also.
Frit is suitable for either cold or hot working as they are not subject to to tension or breakages during smoothing and polishing. Any grade of frit can be supplied on request.
Millefiori is supplied in both rod and cut, in diameters from 2/3 mm to 14/16 mm. It can be used for flame work, warm and hot glass.

For specifications and colour chart go to
http://www.arrowsprings.com/html/effetre_info__moretti_.html

Uroboros Glass
www.uroboros.com

Uroboros glass manufactures are based in Portland, Oregon, USA and have been in operation since 1973.
Their website is extensive and comprehensive.

Uroboros products are: Fusion FX, System 96 & Art glass.

Fusion FX

Uroboros has been producing tested-compatible fusible glass for nearly two decades. We run it through the industry’s most rigorous testing. Products at the 90 COE expansion point are tested compatible with Bullseye glass and, for glass blowers, with East Bay 91 and Spruce Pine 83. We continually introduce new and innovative 90 COE products for both beginning artists and top fusing professionals worldwide.

System 96
System 96 is a collaborative effort of two companies that compliments their individual strengths, Spectrum with its large scale/lower cost production facility, and Uroboros' with our lower volume/high product mix abilities. We chose 96 COE fusible glass because of its world-wide use, especially with glass blowers. It is compatible with East Bay “Special”, Spruce Pine 87, Glasma batch #71 and Glasma Studio Batch.
The strength of System 96 lies in its unique range of use; kiln fired pieces can be used with glass blowing, beadwork can be used in your kiln and your glass blowing, your glass works hard for you throughout your studio.

Art Glass
Since firing up our furnaces in 1973, our craftsmen have created the broadest range of sheet glass products available anywhere! On a regular basis we produce 163 colour combinations in 14 unique styles. Our colour combinations are available in many different styles or textures and we offer up to as many as seven colours in a single sheet! Each sheet is ladled from our furnaces and formed by hand using old-world techniques backed with modern-world technology and equipment.
Uroboros craftsmen form each glass sheet by hand. We ladle out each colour separately and mix them together carefully. Our goal is to give you glass with the complexity and character that only hand-casting provides.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Art Theory Week 4

A question of originality..discussion sparked off by
Reva Wolf, 'Homer Simpson as Outsider Artist or How I learned to Accept ambivalence (Maybe)'. Art Journal, Vol. 65, No. 3, 2006, pp. 101-111

I don't watch the Simpsons..there were some in class who remembered the episode "Mom and pop art" referred to. The article was easy to comprehend and interesting.

Our tutorial (after the lecture on originality) started off with the question "Is Homer an artist?"

'Outsider' artists were also discussed. I really don't like this term and the prejudice it seems to stem from. I hadn't heard the term until I was 'inside' hmmmm a bit snobby perhaps?

Concepts - Materiality and process - Week 4

T. As a group pick one object of your three for each student. Come up with a word list that relates to the objects selected. From these words consider / devise a concept, material and approach to make an object that represents those words. Select materials and make object.

Words from our group's four objects:
organic, geometric, movement, direction, deconstruction, cutting, gluing, tearing, dense, delicate, translucent, natural, spirals, layers, textured, versatile, light weight.

Our concept was to start with a geometric form and then scramble organic forms over that. With balsawood, paper, glue, string and ground hebel brick our team of four set to...

The four original 'objects' and their collective 'child'






















Vocabulary: Language of Object


Deconstruct, manipulate, code-meaning, text (object/artwork) symbol, design, signify, signifier, signified, appropriate, transform, distortion, transmute, infer, allude, camouflage, senes, sensory, materiality, metonym, rupture, resistance, tactility, mimic, confusion, erode, corrupt, multiplicity, resistance, distortion, metaphor, narrative, encrypted, rhythm, fluidity, surface, conceal, contain opacity, melt, opacity.

Obsession Yayoi Kusama..art as therapy. Object ration and Mental illness.

Aesthetic approach: abstract, literal, figurative, stylised, expressive, metaphoric, pragmatic...