About Glass

 

Glass is like water, with no crystal structure.  Or, perhaps it’s like ice, since it freezes at ordinary temperatures.

 

Yet it’s like taffy when it gets warm.  It can be pulled into long strings, twisted and coiled, laid in sheets, molded. 

 

Hot glass can be blown into the lightest, airiest shapes you can imagine.  

 

But it’s also like stone, that you can etch, slice, crush, granulate. 

 

It has transparency, translucency, and opacity.  It's fragile, but can be exceedingly strong. 

 

Think of its colors, the light it collects and refracts!

 

Glass is an endless field of playfulness.

 

 

About My Glasswork

 

Generally I use Bullseye art glass in my projects, though I have been known to use ordinary window glass, and broken car-window glass is a future project. 

 

Bullseye Glass has many advantages, such as rigorous technology to ensure strength and color consistency, and a network of dealers who are generous with information. 

 

Window glass comes naturally tinted a lovely celadon color (this is the original color of glass as manufactured), but is a little more dicey in terms of compatibility of one sheet with another - you can only use a single sheet in a single project, because the next sheet might expand/contract differently. 

 

And little can be said about glass swept up off the street, except that it has to be carefully and tediously cleaned of all foreign material, and is broken in thousands of interesting shapes.  Think of this as recycling, and a public service, and a curiosity.