Like many artists experience, there are times when I am just not satisfied with my ideas and my work.  Usually during these times, just pushing out a piece feels fake, like a lie.  I was in that sort of funk with the auction pieces.  I just didn’t have a fun idea for a miniature botanical that I wanted to try. 

Then I had an epiphany:  I am the one who invented that I make botanical art, and that means I can change my declaration – I can make whatever I want! 

My epiphany coincided with our youngest son Reilly’s final research project for his Science and Language Arts classes.  He researched windmills, and in particular, how many windmills are required to power an average 2,000 square foot home.  I had nudged him in the direction of this project out of my interest in installing windmills in our back yard.  Our yard looks out over a small valley and we get a lot of wind up the hill.  I thought perhaps we could learn about windmills for our own home while doing Reilly’s project.   

Reading and browsing through the library books about wind power, I found myself attracted to the different types of windmills.  There were the old farm style windmills with the big wheels circled with paddles to catch the wind.  At the other end of the style spectrum were the modern wind farm models with three very long, sleek blades. 

Happily, my work with Reilly sparked my interest in a new direction, and my first glass windmill was the result!  Of course after this first one, I had to make a botanical model. 

The first of my little windmills is the “Red Tip Windmill” that is now listed in my miniature auction.  The “Plum Foot Windmill” will go up next week. 

By the way, if you haven’t found it, there is a listing of all my miniature auctions.  Choose the Auction tab along the top of the page.  On the next page there is a Past Auctions tab.  Choose that and you will see images of all my miniature auctions to date.  Enjoy!

… And, although I had fun making these and am quite pleased with inventing how to enable the blades to turn, these are mere trifles compared to other artists who make kinetic sculptures.  If you like this sort of work, I recommend the art of Bandhu Scott Dunham, who makes working steam engines and marble machines, among other amazing works.   http://www.salusaglassworks.com/gallery/gallery_kinetic.html

Finally, stay tuned for my auctions, as I will continue to explore the windmills. 

As glass cools, it crystalizes.  After being heated above 950 degrees farenheit (my torches run about 2200 degress), a piece of glass must cool slowly enough that the entire piece cools at the same rate.  If one area of a piece of glass cools more quickly than another area, it will crystalize earlier, causing a crack in the glass. 

For example, on my pieces, the leaves are much thinner than the branches. If I cool the pieces too quickly, the leaves will cool faster and crack off the thicker branches.  If a branch itself is cooled too quickly, the surface will cool faster than the interior and the branch will crack.  

The process of soaking the heat evenly into the glass and then cooling it slowly enough to allow the entire piece to cool consistently is called annealing.  Given that glass is a poor conductor of heat, the annealing process must go very slowly! 

After making the parts for my pieces – the leaves, fruits, branches or vines – I anneal them.  Then I make the actual sculpture and anneal that. 

Annealing cycles for my work range from eight to fifteen hours.  Artists who cast thick pieces of glass anneal for several days!

Annealing is done in a kiln; the same types of kilns that ceramicists use.  Most artists have digital controllers into which they enter the annealing cycle, and then let the kiln and controller do their work. 

Without a controller, the artist would have to watch over the kiln and manually adjust the temperature settings to make sure the kiln stays on cycle.  That was how I annealed before I bought a digital controller.  Here was a situation when I got distracted and forgot to turn the kiln down after it reached the highest temperature I needed. 

I think Salvadore Dali would have loved this!

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Here is my process for making a fruit.  In this case, I am making a peach.

Starting with a point (See my earlier blog entry on “points”), I heat and add layers and layers of a variety of colored glass powders to get a natural, rich peach color.   Heating and rolling the point in the glass powder builds up the colors, and when I am satisfied, I blow into the point to produce the peach shape and I remove one of the point handles and melt and smooth the spot where I’ve taken it off.  

Next comes the crease down the peach.  I create the crease using a regular table knife.

 Now I have to put a tiny hole in the back of the peach.  As I continue working on the peach, heating and cooling it, the air trapped inside will expand and contract.  The hole allows the expanding and contracting air to move in and out of the peach.  If I don’t leave a hole, the peach will either collapse or expand and pop out where I heat it the hottest.  

Next I place the hot peach into a grabber tool so I can remove the other handle and complete the peach.  I melt and smooth the side where the second handle was, and I use a colored glass rod to attach a stem, taking care to meld together the rod and the peach for a smooth seam. 

Finally the peach is placed in the kiln for annealing.  I will write about annealing in another blog entry. 

Once I have all the fruits, leaves and branches completed I then make the actual sculpture.   

Hello Readers,

I apologize for the temporary condition of my website.  My hosting company is making system changes that are affecting my site.  I will be back online as soon as we get reconfigured.

Thank you for your patience.