cane tumblers, finally on show

i am finally showing and hopefully selling some of the cane tumblers i had been making last year in the exhibition that opens tonight as well. here are some of the professional images i had taken of the work before i delivered it to the gallery last week.

professional images really are worth it,
they just look so great.

the show opens tonight,
for more details on the exhibition go here.

exhibition deadline next week

a few months ago i said yes to being in a small group show as part of the sala festival. it was suppose to be a great chance for me to make some new work, i knew exactly what i wanted to make. and then i hurt my back. as a result i was not able to be in the studio making new work. in the end i realised i was limited to finishing off and reworking some things i already had. this wasn't a disaster just not what i had planned.

so the work is all due in one week. i have booked in a photography date late next week, so the deadlines are very real to me right now.

last week i spent most of my time cold working these small bit of glass to turn them into wearable badges.



i had quite a bit of "stock" glass already so it was a matter of revisiting it and making some decisions. i am currently procrastinating on doing up the final layout of the images for the solid colour badges, that i need to get made into stencils to then sandblast onto the surface. i will post some new images once they are done next week. (fingers crossed please)



this is a set of badges i made from some cane plates i made. i really like them, the contrast of the straight edges of the rectangles compliments the loose curvy white lines in the glass. they are all done! yay!

so in the show i will have 2 sets of badges, and then i wanted to include some of the cups i had made last year. i have not shown them yet, and they are just sitting in my studio so i thought this exhibition is perfect for them. the exhibition ins at a place called one small room . it is a small store that sets up a room with a collection of furniture, the works we make will be set in the room as part of the installation, so my cups should fit into the scene quite nicely.

the show is called spaces within and runs july 29th - aug 22nd.

now back to work and crossing things off my list.

feedback please on a new series of work

late last year i had a local wood turner make 10 wooden turned objects for me. i was not sure what i would do with them, they could be bases or lids. really just some wood components for me to play with and try and put some glass with to make a limited series or range of work.

these two are my first prototypes. i was sitting in my studio the other week looking at all my canes cups. i really like the look of the pattern at the bottom of the cup when all the canes meet at one point. see example in the image here. this design would highlight and showcase the cane in the glass component and if the glass was the lid then at the top you would clearly see the point where all the pattern or lines converge.

i can't just use the cups as they are usually tapered too much so i made these clear glass forms just to try out a few options. i would remake the clear glass with different cane patterns. i also need to make each glass unit to fit each wooden component.

so right now there are a few questions. what is it? i think of them like small keep-sake boxes . what do you think?

do they work better with the glass on the bottom, or on top? or as a pair with one each?

functionally they would be ok to hold kind of precious stuff like jewellery.

if the glass goes on the top then you need to place the objects in the middle to be able to place the glass on easily without crushing the object at the edges. does this matter?

here is an image of a cup i made that happens to fit and almost look like the final object.
what do you think? is the pattern too much? should there be more clear in the pattern?

if the glass is on the top then should it have a flat top or slightly curved or raised? the clear sample has a pointed raised top. it could even be more like a bell jar.

i am planning to have these resolved for the group show in july this year, so i need to start making the canes and components in the next few weeks to give myself enough time.

any feedback from anyone is welcome, in fact greatly appreciated.

thanks.

my excuse...

my excuse for not making any glass lately is my wrist. roughly four years ago i had surgery on my wrist to remove a ganglion cyst. it has been good until recently.



i have had some xrays done and tried some physio and acupuncture to try and alleviate the pain and discomfort. so far nothing has really worked. the acupuncture has helped ease the pain but only for a day or so.

i also had an ultrasound of my wrist done which revealed 3 or 4 very small ganglions. roughly 2 - 3 mm in length. that is small but apparently the wrist joint is very small and even something as small as a grain of rice can cause pain, discomfort and limit the movement of the wrist.

i have an appointment with the hand surgeon tomorrow and fingers crossed i can at least get some advice on what is the best plan to help get me back on the glass and many other activities i find too painful to do right now (like using chopsticks).

cups and what i should do next.

so here are the cups i made 2 weeks ago. i also made some plates to try and work out a new idea but they didn't work out so well. i really like these cups. i think i might use them at my place eventually one day.



but now i am in a dilemma. my wrist has been aching and hurting for roughly 4 weeks now. i did not blow glass last week, and have been to see a physio and get some acupuncture done. i need to figure out how to stop it from hurting. the hard thing is my wrist hurts so much i think i should stop blowing glass for a while to rest it and get it feeling better.

the shitty this is that mentally i feel like i am just about to start some new work. like i have the ideas and they are gelling and i could be onto some good new work. but my wrist is getting in the way. i guess i can still draw and plan and do tests while i take it easy.

the other issue is what to do with my cups. i had been thinking of applying to an artist run space somewhere to have an exhibition. the idea was to display all the cups i have made in a space and instead of them being for sale they would be there for trade. i would man the space for the duration of the exhibition during set times and at these times people can come and trade me something for one cup. i would document this trade and put on display in the spot where the cup was a photo of the cup and the thing it was traded for. so the space would be changing and interactive. i just want to get away from the idea of making work to sell, get away from the consumer world and trade some skills. i have been making the cups as a skill building exercise and i know some one will want them but i don't want to sell them in a traditional craft shop or show. i want to see what people will put up for trade for these objects and what value is placed on them by others. as well i want to see what is traded; i would hope it would not be just other objects but perhaps a gesture or action or moment. i hope that the public will stretch the limits of what can be valued and traded. so the issues now are where i can show this? obviously not a commercial gallery. is this a good idea for a show? is it contemporary art practice? anyone who has any opinions on this please share them with me i am not sure if it is a good idea or not.

i will try blowing glass again next week and if my wrist hurts worse or it is too restricting to make things with my bad wrist then i might need to put it all on hold for a while anyways.

my last two blowing sessions

so over the last 2 weeks i have blown glass i have been working on a few new things, but nothing i am yet ready to share with the world. So i am still making cups but also devoting some time to do a few new things still using canes.

this is a collection of cups i made from the canes i had that were taken from the blue pot glass. i think they look really great together like this.



these 2 cups are also favorites. i am inspired by a cup a friend gave to me that has a similar white twisted cane on it. i just think it looks really great and classy. i am definitely going to make some more of these, i think i want to have a set in my house to use.

these last cups are also really fun, i think the colours are what make them seem fun. i should also make a yellow one to complete the set. these are a bit more challenging to make but can usually work. If the cane or colour is too think then it makes it almost impossible to blow out a nice bubble to turn into a cup.

I am still working out my idea for what to do with the cups and am writing/thinking about it, but don't want to talk of it yet until i can get the idea clearer in my own head. but iw ill share with you soon my plans and hopefully get some useful feedback as well onto the logisitcs of the installation i want to undertake.

but for now; what would you do if you have 100 cups made?

how many cups have i made so far?

not enough.



ok 47 so far. but really i have visions of my studio being so full that when people walk in they go "woah! look at all those cups!" but that isn't happening just yet. and now that i am scheming to actually do something with them i need many more.

and if you can believe it i am still enjoying making them. there is a simple satisfaction that comes from making such a useful and small object.

my glassblowing session last week.

every week i have a four hour glassblowing session on friday afternoon. it feels like i haven't had a session dedicated to making only cups for quite some time, so last friday i did just that. these are the eleven cups i produced in those four hours.


and here are a few of the favorite ones from that group.

i really love the colours in this one. these canes were made when the studio was melting a furnace full of hot glass colour. this is a real treat for us glassblowers. now i have heaps of canes to use in these beautiful blue colours.

these two cups are made from some canes that a friend of mine was giving away beacuse he thought they were not good enough for him to use. i think they were too thin for his purposes. so i turned around and made two fo the nicest cups yet. i think the colour combos in these cups are really great. i will have to remember to ask what colours they were.

and finally a tall glass that uses some blue coloured canes from the furnace and some twisted fancy white canes. this glass just looks like it would be really nice to drink from. it certainly is nice to hold.

one cup

if you can believe it this is the only cup i have made for probably a month or so. i have been busy with so many things like a short whale watching holiday, a trip to melbourne for the design festival and working on making things for the opposite dark exhibition that i have just not had the opportunity to make any. this is also the first cup i have made with a foot on it as well as one that has an interior colour with the canes set over top of that. it looks ok, but not sure if i really like it.

thinking of the cups, i have been trying to sort out in my mind what to do with them all. i have an idea for an exhibition and will be looking for a place to do this installation/performance/interaction type thing next year. i will explain more as soon as i have it sorted out into understandable ideas, right now it is a giant idea that i can not put into words.

more cups and fire

here are some more cups i made last week. this white one is a favorite but there are many small things wrong with it that you can't see in the photo. the reason there are so many mistakes on this cup is that my assistant actually caught herself on fire while assisting me making this cup , and needless to say i got distracted and ended up tagging some of the canes together in the wrong place. my assistant was ok, luckily she had two shirts on and only the outer one caught on fire and she was able to put it out before she was hurt.

we laughed about it after. i will make this cup pattern again one day soon, but without the fire.

the blue lines on this cup are made up of coloured furnace glass canes. this means there is no clear glass around them, like in normal coloured canes.

the colour is also not as intense as it usually is in normal coloured canes. i really like this cup and i have lots more of the coloured furnace glass canes to play around with still.

the perfect water cup size.

and finally two cups made with the same patterned canes. i really like the white twist that is covered in the black canes, it creates a nice veil effect. i will definitely be trying a few more colour combo options in some fancy twisted canes soon.

still making cups

ok so for about 2 weeks now i haven't blown glass for various reasons, my assistant being out of town, or me being too overwhelmed with things to do. but last week i did and i had a good session and made a few cups. this one is made using the canes "i invented". ok i probably didn't but i have never seen this pattern before. so i made this one. it has that american pride feeling to it due to the colours but i think it is ok. not my favorite but definitely worth looking at in the studio. it could be the start of something great...

the inside view and the side view. i do like the sketchy line quality it uses, and want to pursue the use of this pattern in something else, just not sure what yet.

cane cup by-product

when you pull cane the aim is to have most of it one nice continuous thickness, and sometimes it works like this for me. but other times either end of the cane will be fatter than the rest of the cane all because the final heat was not right. from each cane pull you learn how you might do a better one next time if you pay attention. anyways the dilemma is what to do with the fat parts. they are still often quite nice looking but too fat to pick up and make into a cup. some thicker ones i save and will do a roll up and make something larger than a cup, but there are bits of cane too fat for this. i didn't want to throw them away, and have recently realised that i can use this fat cane to make marbles.

to make a marble you pick up the fat cane on a punti, and then use a metal melon-baller and jacks to make nice round marbles. they require a bit of cold working and polishing afterwards to make them round and finished but otherwise they are pretty simple to make. not sure what i will do with these yet but they are more useful and fun than fat bits of cane.

the challenege

i am not sure if i ever really explained it on my blog and to tell you the truth i don't actually remember when i decided to do the challenge. the challenge i have set out for myself is to make cups for a year.

i think it started because i didn't know what to make, i was in a slump. yet as part of my pay at my work is one four hour glassblowing session per week. i wasn't using this and decided i needed to or i would surely regret this when i no longer have this job. so i decided to start learning how to make different canes. as a result i would need to do something with the canes. the easiest and funnest thing to make in my opinion with canes are cane tumblers or cups.

so since about march i have been making canes and cups each week. i am loving it. and it seems that now when people ask me what i am making i explain my project of making cups. then someone asked me why i was doing it and i said it was my goal to make cups for one year.

here are last week's cups.

and this one too.

i have always liked the idea of time based projects and have been wanting to think of a great one for myself. as it turns out i kind of stumbled across this one and i am really excited about it. i look forward to looking back in a year at all my cups, seeing the progress and seeing where it leads me.

i read the blog take a ball of thread and think it is great. the project here isn't time based but it certainly is contained by the material used. i recently saw the exhibition of some of the works and they are so lovely.

making a collection of cups is not foreign to me, when i did a residency in the UK for 3 months during my stay i made a cup a day and each cup had a drawing on it for that day. it was a visual diary of my stay.

so who knows where this project will take me, but i am certainly enjoying myself, making for no other purpose than the want to make and the pleasure of it.

best canes yet

as part of the challenge i have set out for myself to make cane cups for a year it obviously requires me to make canes. as i explained previously making twisty cane can be tricky. you need to keep turning until your arms want to fall off in order to get a good twist. these canes here are the best ones i have made yet. they are the best canes yet because they have a nice and even twist through the whole length of the cane and a nice even thickness.

the canes on the left are white and black twisted canes in two layers. the canes on the right are a cheeky colour combo of yellow white and grey twisty ribbon cane.

you can see in this images the cane on the left is not twisted, but a collection of many small white vertical lines. it is one of my favorite canes to make as it is easy on my arms, requiring no twist and produces some amazing optical effects when it is seen in real life.

i will make some cups with these canes soon in the weeks to come.

special drinking cups

this set of cups i just got back from a group exhibition they were in. the exhibition was about drinking vessels and since i was actually making cups it was easy to participate in. unfortunately no one bought them so lucky for me i get to use them! or add them to my growing collection at my studio. they are nice because they are big and chunky and you feel like they would be hard to break even if you dropped them, although i wouldn't recommend it.

april 24th cups

i blow glass every friday afternoon for 4 hours. so each week i have a new collection of cups and canes to admire and play with. these are the cups that i made last week. its funny how i am making all this cane and then it becomes precious and i don't want to use it; i want to save it for some reason. so i made myself use up a lot of my canes. it is good to make the cups because i can see what the canes look like blown out and i can try different patterns and colour combos. really these cups are like small test samples of various techniques and colours and once i am good enough to recreate them fairly consistently i will be able to make something more than cups.

although i must say that i am still really enjoying making cups, they haven't lost my interest yet.

last fridays tumblers

every friday i blow glass at the jamfactory. each session is four hours long. i decided this year that i was going to make cane and cups and practice and learn new techniques. so each week i have a collection of new cups.

and of course i like to photograph the inside of the cups.

the white on these cups is a bit washed out and the twist is a bit loose but i still like them.

the one line of cane on these cups makes them challenging to make, as they tend to want to go oval shaped rather than round, but i am getting better at them.

i also made a few other cups but they broke (as things do sometimes with glass) and pulled a few canes. tomorrow i will do a whole session of cane cups and see how many i can make in four hours.

scraps

this cup was made with some scrap canes that someone was throwing away. i am not sure what the colour or technique was used to make the canes. they looked really dark before they were blown out and even now this cup is quite dark unless there is a lot of light behind it, but i like it. its kind of moody.

blue and green must never be seen

once i made this cup and other similar ones (photos to come later as they are in an exhibition right now) people started reciting the phrase,"blue and green must never be seen." i have no idea what this means, only perhaps that they are colours that do not belong together. anyways i did it, i broke the rule i didn't even know existed and this cup is the result. i like it.

looking into the cup i love the symmetry and pattern more than the outside, i think it would be a delight to drink from.

two more tumblers

well here are two more cups. they are made with traditional fancy cane patterns. the patterns in the canes are very loose, and this is technically not desirable but i still like the stringy line quality.


not only are they enjoyable to make but i like how they feel in your hands. overall they are very satisfying objects and even though i still am not sure of a definite end result for this project it is one that makes me feel good.


and of course they also look really cool on the inside.


sometimes it is the little things that make you smile