A splash bowl half done so far

A truly delightful lady had seen my drips and splats and has commissioned me to make her a sculptural bowl. Let’s call her Sara for the sake of the blog because I don’t want to keep saying “she” all the time.

Sara doesn’t want it to be functional – that’s different! Mostly people want functional giftware from me. I’m loving the challenge. Thanks Sara!

She chose her colour combinations when she came to the studio one afternoon last week. Sara saw lots of the my art glass works in the gallery and in the studio and it was easy to talk about the concept she had in mind. The colours she chose were: cherry red, grape purple, mid blue, caribean blue, mid turquoise with loads of clear as well.

Here is the shape of the mold we are going to use to slump Sara’s finished item into. It’ll give the bowl a very organic free flowing look, something akin to a splash.

I began by cutting a circle in clear art glass first – its a little larger than the mold above so that when it slumps down to the base of the bowl it’ll be able to take up all the lovely shapes from the very bottom & also right to the edge. (That’s the plan anyway)

After adding the transparent cherry red, deep blue, turquoise and caribbean blue, gradually I started adding the clear strips.

You can see better in this closer look at the raw piece. When I look at it like this it looks like a blue sunflower (what do you think of it like this?)

Even more clear was added and then it went into the kiln. The pale pink you can see is the kiln shelf and powder that is used as a kiln separator. (if you have any questions about anything you see please don’t hesitate to shoot me an email in the comments below.)

Now we have to wait to see what it looks like after its first firing. I hope you’ve enjoyed a brief look into the adventures of one piece of glass. Please let me know what you think of this, all your comments are read and replied to. Using almost the same colour combination I have made another piece that is inspired by the ocean.

It is one of my woven fruit platters which are available in lots and lots of different sizes (and of course colour combinations of your choosing. Ocean inspired woven fruit bowl 30cms x 30cms

Whenever I am commission to make a piece for you I always take progress pictures and endeavour to stay in touch with you during every step of the way. I do enjoy making these one-off pieces as it stretches my knowledge and skills plus working with someone like Sara, its inspiring because she loves crazy unusual organic shapes. Thanks again. JY