Sculpting a Glass Star (1)
This is my first try making an 8-pointed hollow glass star shape, which I am working on to include in my porcelain sculpture assembly based off of the Voynich Manuscript drawing.
I was planning to document some video after I had practiced the shape a few times, but then I surprised myself by managing to make the 8-pointed shape on the first try- at least the first part of it, the center of the star and the points. I do want to practice the shape several more times though, so I plan to make a few more and will show how I make the shape next time. Also, depending on the size of the star that I am going for, different techniques are used, so I want to practice making some stars of different sizes to see which one will work the best (and because I want to experiment with some different colors and gas fills). The star will be filled with an inert gas and processed into a lighted plasma sculpture, but I haven’t yet decided what light effect to make. It will probably be coated with a yellow phosphor on the inside, to give it a colored glow, but depending on the gas fill itself, that can also create different colors and effects.
I did document the process of some of the glassworking steps that I did after making the points of the star. Since I sculpted the star on the end of a longer piece of glass tubing, I needed to remove the excess glass, close off the shape, while still leaving a few inches of extra glass tubing connected to the back of the star. This is so that the star can be supported in a fixture that is built into the porcelain sculpture. I also needed to add a thin tube of glass connected to one of the points of the star, which is where it will later be filled with an inert gas and then sealed off. Unlike the first part, this did not go quite as smoothly because I realized as I was doing these steps that it would be much more efficient to have done them in a different way. So, I had to do some awkward improvisation to correct some mistakes. But that is what practice is for… it did work out in the end despite some mistaken technique, but next time it will probably look different since I think I now see a different and better way to do it.
To be continued…