Cast away

I know it's all seemed very quiet here, but as ever - it's the opposite. I've been a busy bee with work, so I just thought I'd show a couple pics of what I've been up to.

I currently have two casting projects and a fused window too - so hot glass in the hot summer!

The pictures are of a border strip of cast glass - cast in clear glass. It's kind of organic, with a loose starfish and some pebbles, and the other picture is of a plaster mold, which is how I make the cast glass. Both are from different projects.

If I was terrible organized, the pictures would follow the process - but alas, I'm not! So I shall describe it briefly anyway:

I sculpt a 'positive' out of wet clay (so it looks as I want it to) and then I cast the positive in plaster (this plaster is the 'negative') When the plaster has dried, I kiln wash it (thats the funny purple color on the plaster mold) Then I can fill it with glass and cast it in the kiln. These are 'one offs' as I loose the wet clay when I pull it out of the plaster mold, and I pretty much always loose the plaster mold after it's been cast once (when It comes out of the kiln and I pull the glass out!) So If something goes wrong - I have to start over, which can be frustrating, but there it is!

I will try and post pictures of each project - when they are complete, so you can get some context!!