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The embryo is the first part of the the process which
takes tremendous thought to see how the colours are going to work together
and which patterns will go best. These cup shaped embryo's will contain
different layers of colour depending on the desired finish. Once the
cups are ready for cold working, the pattern is sandblasted into the
surface using several types of stencil. This may be repeated several
times over the top of each pattern to get the desired effect. It may
take several hours to achieve the finished result. |
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After the embryo's have been finished they are placed
into an electric kiln and reheated to a temperature of 550 degrees celcius. |
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Once the kiln is up to temperature a small gather of
glass is worked to form a post which enables the embryo to be picked
up from the kiln. |
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| The gather of glass is positioned over the cup and pushed onto the top until a good contact is achieved between the two pieces of glass. | |||||||||||||
| After the cup has been picked up it is warmed in the glory hole very carefully and brought up to a workable temperature ensuring that the pattern is not distorted in anyway. | |||||||||||||
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Once the workable temperature is achieved the piece
is shaped and blown into the desired form. |
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| Depending on the piece being made a coloured pad and clear foot is cast onto the bottom of the piece. | |||||||||||||
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| To enable the piece to be finished it is placed onto another iron which is stuck and centered on the base of the piece and then the piece is separated from the blowing iron. | |||||||||||||
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| When the top of the piece has been reheated it has to be checked to see that the top is straight and may need to be sheared straight. | |||||||||||||
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| A coloured strap is wound around the top of the piece. | |||||||||||||
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| A number of different tools are used to open the piece to the desired shape and a wooden board is held on the top to keep it straight. | |||||||||||||
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| To separate the piece from the solid iron it is chipped around the join and the iron is tapped with the knife whilst holding the piece over a sand tray in the annealing oven. | |||||||||||||
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The finished piece THG-151 Fish Bowl
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