I wrote recently about being selected for a Creative Glass Center of America Fellowship, but thought it was about time to show off some experimental castings I made there last fall that helped get me the fellowship. Last Summer I blogged a first test of this process, but this Fall I was able to do some more substantial castings and learn some more. Here’s some process shots:
So what did I learn?
First, the work I will make in my fellowship will be shallower castings 9-12″deep at the most. I will be making relief panels cast from 12x12x12″ 3d printed sections. I think these high relief castings will be easier to produce and yield better results. Though I like the jade-like appearance of the glass in these, I would prefer more of a translucent glass appearance for my final product. The shallower molds will be easier to cast and cool so as to avoid devitrification. I also will do some more experiments with other mold formulas. Perhaps some other mold materials will crack less as the PLA expands during burnout. Finally, I’d like to explore casting with hot billets of glass as opposed to cold chunks of cullet. Basically, hot casting ingots of molten glass from a furnace so they skin up and stop moving, but are still quite hot when they are dropped into the molds. These ingots are then dropped in the molds and will more easily be heated to flow in. This should also yield a clearer quality to the glass.
So that’s it. I hope you enjoyed. I’m looking forward to using the process to make some work during this year’s fellowship!
4 thoughts on “A Process for Glass Casting from 3D Printed Positives”
I am so jealous! What a fabulous project!!! I’m so glad you had such good results. Have you ever seen the process where glass is blown directly into molds? The pieces pick up the relief but are hollow. I don’t know what the process is called but it’s a way to make vessels like jugs and large containers. Don’t know if that is something you’d like to explore with your 3D forms.
Hi Lisa, yes, that process is called mold blowing. Depending. On the mold material it gives varying amounts of detail, but none result in the level of surface detail we get here. Nice to hear from you and say hi to Bill for me!
I’m so happy for you that you are taking Luna Park in this wonderful direction. Good for you! How is cleaning the glass structures going? What are you using to do it?
Not sure I’m following your question… cleaning glass structures? Soap and water I guess
I am so jealous! What a fabulous project!!! I’m so glad you had such good results. Have you ever seen the process where glass is blown directly into molds? The pieces pick up the relief but are hollow. I don’t know what the process is called but it’s a way to make vessels like jugs and large containers. Don’t know if that is something you’d like to explore with your 3D forms.
Hi Lisa, yes, that process is called mold blowing. Depending. On the mold material it gives varying amounts of detail, but none result in the level of surface detail we get here. Nice to hear from you and say hi to Bill for me!
I’m so happy for you that you are taking Luna Park in this wonderful direction. Good for you! How is cleaning the glass structures going? What are you using to do it?
Not sure I’m following your question… cleaning glass structures? Soap and water I guess