"Where can I find a good book/video/website on casting glass?" I'm asked that a LOT, so I thought I'd save myself some time answering by cobbling up this post. This list compiles my most-informative references garnered through my years of casting glass. The first two are specific to glass casting with a strong focus on moldmaking (the most confounding part [...]
Current iteration, as of this writing--subtler ridges, whisker-like set of front nose indentation, and better ear integration. In THIS episode of Making a Silicone Mask: The Rules of Moldmaking #1: The simpler, the better. The fewer stages and components required to create your mold, the fewer opportunities for disaster. #2: The effort required to correct a casting [...]
When they tell that old silicone might not set, they mean it. In this episode: There's many a slip twixt the yup and the ick. Here today, goo tomorrow. A moldmaker and her money are soon parted. Models are easy. Molds are hard. Masks, I was discovering, are even harder. I had a model for Kat's mask. Now [...]
Final maquette for Kaitlyn's mask After two decades--and a LOT of wasted silicone--I've gotten pretty good at building durable, well-engineered silicone molds for glass casting. I should be able to make a custom silicone mask, right? We'll see. My friend Kaitlyn (Kat) is making a Halloween costume depicting the probable offspring of Batman and Catwoman (who apparently met [...]
If you ever hear an experienced glass caster say s/he's never had holes in a casting...they're either lying or have a very creative definition of "holes." Such casting defects come to everyone who sticks glass in a mold and fires, which is why we have "wax bondo."
The first time I packed frit into a mold I learned the difference between the volume of frit and the FIRED volume of frit. Even so, when you're casting or fusing with frit, the level of shrinkage can be disconcerting. Here is an example. Fill up a test mold to the brim with powder, tamp it down tightly so that [...]
Remember that ginormous glass counter I was planning to cast last August? I spent a bit of time figuring out how to achieve a piece of 1.5 to 2 inch-thick glass about 36 inches wide and 9 feet long to top the family room/dining room cabinet: Temporary plywood top, intended as a stopgap until I got the REAL glass [...]
Apologies for the overlong ramble, but since this blog is intended to document my creative meanderings, it also details the times I'm bogged down in design and engineering. Apparently stuffing my musings into a blogpost for review is the best way to get me thinking, so sorry about that. And please: ANY suggestions, ideas, criticisms, etc., for this [...]
I know I've promised a bunch of you that I'd deliver a compilation of knee replacement surgery information and I WILL PUBLISH THAT SOON. Promise. It's just that I'm having a little trouble developing a new template that doesn't take 9 gazillion years to edit and maintain. Thanks for your patience because I'm swiftly running out of mine. Whoever thought shortcodes [...]
In the first article in this series, I discussed why glass casters should build a parts library of mastermolds. In this article (part II), I'll talk about the easiest of mastermold-making techniques: The plaster mold. Silicones, urethanes, and resins--the stuff I make most of my glass casting mastermolds from--can be spendy and hard to find. The moldmaking techniques they require can [...]
