TEXTURED CAST GLASS BOWLS

The textures of my handmade bowls are made by casting from a variety of fabrics into plaster to make a one off mould, a method I’ve devised over 25 years. I look for a balanced composition of the various patterns which are originally based on abstracting the elements of architectural facades.

The method of casting fabrics into plaster is very effective as the plaster is very sensitive and picks up every nuance of the fabric.

I use chunks of American Bullseye Glass which are placed in my mould and fired in the kiln. The mould is broken away so each bowl is a one off piece. Then it has a second firing to form it into a bowl shape.

It’s at this stage I paint on gold lustre or enamels to highlight elements of the composition. The final stage is to polish the edges. The texture is on the top surface of the bowl, the base is fire polished. The slight opaqueness of the texture contrasts beautifully with the highly polished rim and base.

The textures of my handmade bowls are made by casting from a variety of fabrics into plaster to make a one off mould, a method I’ve devised over 25 years. I look for a balanced composition of the various patterns which are originally based on abstracting the elements of architectural facades.

The method of casting fabrics into plaster is very effective as the plaster is very sensitive and picks up every nuance of the fabric.

I use chunks of American Bullseye Glass which are placed in my mould and fired in the kiln. The mould is broken away so each bowl is a one off piece. Then it has a second firing to form it into a bowl shape.

It’s at this stage I paint on gold lustre or enamels to highlight elements of the composition. The final stage is to polish the edges. The texture is on the top surface of the bowl, the base is fire polished. The slight opaqueness of the texture contrasts beautifully with the highly polished rim and base.