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 [...]
We're a few months down the road with the Wazer waterjet cutter. I thought an update was due but--apologies--we are nowhere near as far along with learning/using this machine as I thought we'd be. Thank unrealistic expectations for the lapse: I tend to shoehorn 40 hours worth of work into a 24-hour day that includes cleaning up the studio, learning [...]
Reviewing the Wazer desktop waterjet cutter, Cynthia and her friend Bob Heath find it's a powerful, probably revolutionary tool but also expensive to buy or run, has a steepish learning curve, and a few other challenges along the way.
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 [...]
Honest-to-Pete, DEQ's search engine cursor is an image of Bigfoot walking. (I, er, did editorialize a bit on the text) I promised you an eye-witness report of the now-infamous Oregon DEQ art glass financial impact hearing. It was intended to discover what it's costing manufacturers to meet DEQ's ever-changing pollution control directives by October 1. This [...]
People who salvage old glass for kilnforming frequently tell you to avoid tempered glass like the plague because: It's impossible to cut or break (unless you don't want it to break and then it explodes all over you like a bad Clive Barker movie) It's dangerous; tap it in the wrong spot and--blammo!--here comes good ol' Clive [...]
And yep, for those of you who know anything about glassmaking (or have been to the Bullseye factory for just about any event), nope this isn't Tekta rolling down the lehr. If I'd had a picture of the Tekta line I'd have posted it, but the Bullseye site is down, and I'm just to illustration-happy NOT to put something [...]
Remember that Color Line enamel glass paint that I beta-tested for Bullseye awhile back? This, apparently, is what Color Line can do in the hands of someone who knows how to use it. (IOW, someone other than yours truly) Here's the story on that: Last weekend my friend Carla and I hit up the Oregon Glass Guild's Open Studios tour, [...]
