Inside The Glass Studio: My Favorite Design I've Ever Made

Hey everybody, welcome back to the studio. Today we're making a piece from a new series that I've been working on for a while called the Chaos series. Making pieces like this has been an idea I've been milling around about for a little while but they're slowly becoming my favorite thing to make in the hot shop. So let's get into the studio so we can get started. So these are the canes that we're going to be using today. I'm going to lay them out on this little pastorelli plate right here and let them preheat a little bit but essentially this is going to be the design for our pattern we're making today. So we have three white canes and then there's seven black canes with a small little bit of purple glass around each line of black. Essentially this series is all about distortion of lines and pattern and distortion of light as well. So essentially we're going to roll these canes up on a blowpipe and then we're actually going to distort them by hitting a mold. We'll mix it up a little bit so all the lines kind of create these weird jagged kind of like lightning bolt zigzag shapes. But I call this the Chaos series because every time we make one they look kind of similar but also very different and it kind of creates an abstract kind of chaotic look. So for now we're going to go ahead and heat these canes up so they start to slowly fuse together and then I'll go and make a collar which we'll be able to use to wrap the canes up around my blowpipe and then we'll be able to create our piece. Look at that, we're using all the space. So before I make my collar I take a small measurement which tells me exactly how round it needs to be and Will, my buddy who's making glass with me today, is going to take care of these canes and slowly start to heat them up so we can start to fuse them together. This is about being clean. So our canes are starting to really heat up and starting to fuse together. I'm going to slowly take my tweezers and just kind of try to tack them all together so we can minimize the lines in between each one, all the gaps. But you'll notice that every time we come out of the glory hole the tips of these canes, the ones that are farther away from me, are much hotter. You can see right here that the tips are really hot comparatively to the other side and that's because the burner is on the right side of the glory hole. So we have to rotate the plate 180 degrees every time we come out so that the one side of the canes don't heat up too much. And now we'll go ahead and make that collar I was talking about. So I'm going to get a little bit of glass out of our furnace right here and then I'm going to blow a bubble right out of the tip. I'll then put the pipe back into the furnace. Here comes that bubble. So we're going to put the pipe back into the furnace and you're going to see me blow into the pipe while it's melting away. So that thin bubble is going to melt away and there will be a hole that's exposed at the end. The basic idea of this collar is we're basically going to use it to be able to roll the canes up around it so we have our color attached to the blowpipe. So I'm going to use some tools here in just a second to push back all that glass and then I have a small amount of time to use that measurement that I took before and make sure that this is just the right size around so that I can roll those canes up perfectly all the way around it. Turn this move out. So we've gotten everything to the right size. Will's told me that these canes are nice and hot and we can go for the roll up. So that went really well. Most of the cane, about 90% of it, but 98% of it, is attached to the collar and now I just need to make sure that these lines can line up right so that our pattern is nice and flush all the way around. The open road, there is magic at your fingers. A bristle with the energy is awesome, thank you. Now that we have everything tacked together I just want to make sure that there are no canes that have any gaps in between them. So I'm taking my jacks, I'm pressing in, and I'm kind of rotating all the way down to minimize any holes that might be left in between any canes. And she was in a show called Heroes, she was in a bunch of stuff. Well that's good, not too wide, did more to close down. Now that we've minimized all those gaps, I'm going to start a termination, which is basically cutting off the tip of these canes so that I can encapsulate a bubble on the inside. John Connor, right? We've never seen the Terminator. But it's John Connor. Mr. Raymond Sanchez, they say. Alright, awesome. So now that we've encapsulated our bubble, it's hollow on the inside, I can blow through my pipe and it should be able to inflate the piece. But actually there's a small gap that I missed so we're actually going to worry about sealing that up now. Alright, so the hole's all sealed up, I pushed down on the marvering table, this big metal table, and kind of pulled back and it minimized that gap, kind of stretched it out so that everything's connected. Now for this piece, we're actually going to try to twist these canes. So here in just a moment I'm going to use the marvering table and start to spin the canes so that they start to move in a counterclockwise direction. And while we're doing this twisting and kind of melting down and everything and mixing up with these lines, I'm also trying to get rid of any ridges that are left on the outside from all of the canes. Because each one of them has an arc that kind of goes from each one to the other. And I want to make sure that it's nice and smooth on the outside, one, for when we gather glass on top of it a little later in the process, but I'm also actually going to drop this into a bronze optic mold and I need to make it much, much smaller. So as I'm twisting and kind of messing with these lines, I'm also trying to kind of compact everything down as well. It's getting stained sometimes. Oh, you know, just doing one thing sometimes instead of worrying about it all. But I get that. Funny how things like that work out. My brother and his wife went to kindergarten together, he didn't even know. Oh really? Yep. Yeah, it's funny how things like that work out. So everything's pretty hot right now, we're pretty compacted. Now I'm going to give it a nice little angle right here and then we'll drop it into our bronze mold to get our ridges. Alright, awesome. So now that we've hit that mold, we've really distorted the pattern a lot. I want to do it a little bit more. So I'm going to take my tweezers and I'm just going to start to slowly put some little curves in each one of these little ridges. So we'll do this a few times. This is really what gives it that chaotic look and it really, really disrupts the pattern. You really need it, so let go. To shimmy and to shake a hoe, I can't fake more of. Perfect. So now that we've disrupted it, we're going to go back to smoothing again, just like we did before. Because the next step is we're going to drop this into our furnace and we're going to gather a new layer of glass on top of it. And I want it to be nice and smooth on the outside so that we don't pick up any bubbles whenever I submerge it into that big reservoir of clear glass. I thought about asking him to possibly be another set of hands on Friday, but I didn't want to... No, no, no. You're due. That's fine. I'll be there. And I'm probably over. I'm not sure. Also, thank you for that. Oh dude, yeah. And guys, just for your information, it is about 12.15, right around midnight on, what is it? Today is Friday night. We're going to Disney World in the morning. We're going to be there all the way through Wednesday. So I was doing a little bit of video editing last minute, really trying to get a lot of work done. We're going to be videotaping our trip as well. It should be a bunch of fun. We go to Disney like once a year and it's kind of become like a little tradition for me and my wife. So keep an eye out for that video as well. But anyways, now we've smoothed everything out and we're ready to go back into the furnace for our final layer of glass. Yeah, it's just kind of craziness. I love what it does up here. So now that we have that last gather, we have all the glass we're going to be using for this project. One thing we do before we gather is we always make sure to cool down the core of the piece, the layer, before we add the new one. Because whenever we submerge it into that 2000 degree glass inside the furnace, it just wants to melt on us and we lose all of our stability. So the inside layer right now with all the canes is very cold compared to the outside layer. And I'm using this wooden block tool to really make sure that I can move that outside layer exactly where I want it to be while we have the differences in layers. Because what's going to happen is the inside is going to start to heat up and if the inside is hot and the outside is hot, I'm not going to be able to rearrange that glass exactly where I want it to go. So you really want to take advantage of the difference in temperature right after you gather to be able to push all that glass around and really set up for your next move. But now that we have all the glass, we're just going to start to inflate it a little bit. So I'll go to my newspaper tool, I'll ask Will to blow through the pipe, and we'll start to really inflate the piece. It's so funny. There are like rivalries between teams, there's world records. Dude, I'm serious. It's so funny. You can blow lightly. Plastic modular system that you can sort of put together to make different marble runs or whatever. Yeah. One move that I also find to be pretty crucial in making vessels is this marvering move right here. You can see as I point up the piece, I'm pushing a lot of that clear glass down to the tip. The bottom of this, the pointy part right here, is actually going to be the bottom of our piece. And I want it to be nice and stable and nice and thick for when it's sitting on the table. So I want to make sure that I can push all that glass down. The marver is a metal table that actually pulls the glass down a lot more than it shapes it. So whenever you roll it on that metal table, it really pulls the glass down a lot more as compared to like a lot of other tools like my newspaper. So we've inflated this pretty well, and now I'm heating up the area right off the tip of the pipe because we're going to do a jack line. This is a small line that I use my jacks tools to put in. You're going to see me start to do that right about now. And basically what we're doing is we're deciding where we're going to detach it from the pipe. A little later in the process, we're going to actually have to transfer this to a new pipe. And so I'm basically making a small kind of incision or neck line right off the tip of the pipe, which is going to indicate exactly where it's going to break off once we do that transfer a little bit later in the process. So the bulk of the piece is basically done. We have our width and our length, and now we need to have a flat spot on the bottom for it to sit on whenever we're all done. So Will's coming over with a paddle while I blow through the hose that I have connected to my mouth through the blow pipe. We're inflating it while we're shaping the bottom as well. Once we solidify the bottom and give it a nice sharp edge, Will's going to get a second pipe, gather a little bit of glass on the tip, and we're going to go for that transfer that we talked about before. This is called the punty transfer. So basically he's going to get another pipe, get some glass, make it into like a little Q-tip shape. We'll attach it right onto the tip, hopefully directly in the bottom or right directly in the middle of the bottom of this piece. And then we'll be able to disconnect it from the blow pipe and we'll have it flipped over on the new pipe. And there we go. So now we have it flipped over. There's a hole on the top where the bubble went into the piece. So I can now use my tools to go inside the lip of the piece and finish the shape. Alright guys, and I think we're basically done with the piece. So the last thing we have to do is we're actually just going to add a few drops of water to the disconnection point, right where we want it to break off, and then I'm going to tap the pipe with a wooden mallet I have. It should be knocked off right into Will's Kevlar gloves and we'll transport it into our annealer so that it can cool down overnight. We'll be able to come back tomorrow and see what it looks like. I'll also be using this map torch to get rid of any sharp spots on the bottom so I don't have to grind away anything on the bottom as well. Let's do it. Alright guys, and here's the final piece. I love these colors. You know, purple, as you guys know, is one of my favorite colors to use in pieces, and the purple and the black look great together, especially with the white. I love how the light kind of shines through this whenever you look through it. Both of the layers of all the different lines and all the different directions it's going. I just, I love these pieces and I can't wait to make more things like this in this new body of work I've been working on. And guys, as usual, if you're interested in purchasing this piece, you can find a link to it at my store in the description box below. So please check that out. So guys, thanks for hanging out with me today. We really had a good time making this piece. I love this new body of work. I really hope you guys enjoyed watching as much as we enjoyed making it. Please check out our Patreon page if you want to support the channel. We're doing monthly cup giveaways, so just link to that in the description box below as well. Be safe out there, and we'll catch you in the next one.