Making the rest of the Dams Dams Shapes bent and ready to weld The majority of the shapes worked with out an issue welded the small section to the wrong straight so had to cut grind and re-weld back to the right straight. Thats the dams ready for casting. Will use these initial casts to also test how the different colours work in this type of process. #Mountkeen #welding #dams #casting #warmglass #scottishheritage #madeinscotland

Yet another test Adaptions from the previous firing Less height again on the dam lining Longer soak at top temperature The glass placed in dam pre-firing has been cut up smaller to allow glass falling through melt plate more variation in depth Test 1 and 2 combined make the appropriate height for this piece so used them to work out an exact weight in glass. Due to quantity of glass, could probably have done with a bit longer at top temp to get rid of final spike and bubbles.

Trying to address issues from TEST 1 Put it in for a longer soak Fibrepaper pre-fired No kiln paper put on plate ISSUES Results: Still got bubbles, Fibre paper fused to the glass stuck creating a sharp rim, glass leaked through paper and fused with metal. #Mountkeen #tests #materials #warmglass #bullseye #casting #youdontlearnfromsuccess

Initial testing dam wire melt combination issues Pre firing Dam put onto of a piece of kiln paper and lined with fibre paper. Fibre paper cut to shape and glass put on top (approximate colours to number 4 from the colour palette) Post firing Fibre paper stuck to edges, kiln paper fallen through so is fused in and has left a shadow on the surface as it cooled. Lots of big bubbles, lots of spikes. Not good. #Mountkeen #colour #tests #warmglass #bullseyeglass

Working out general aspects of what I want the final to look like. Need light coming up from underneath Deciding whether or not I need a rim round the sides of the glass - Really like the colour coming out from the side. Playing with the idea of the heather under the rock Looking at combing different metals for making the base I think the multiple colours work with the clear glass, but cheapen the coloured (in its current form) Playing with twisting lots of different variatio

Using shapes from drawing sketchbook to create relief sculptures in glass Using a mixture of 6mm and 3mm fibre paper Playing with colour on top of the carving to see if the two aspects work together The Carving becomes very subtle under the colour I think as it stands with the colours being put into the mould rather than melted from above the carving works better when it is a really deep carve and when there is less colour. Next stage of the carving process is to work out w

Comparing the different metals with the glass colour scheme Really like how the different metals change the feel of the different pieces. Looking at how the different metal textures work as rims for the coloured glass shapes. I think the textures work well with the glass, however will need to be careful it doesn't become overly complicated #Mountkeen #glassandmetal #warmglass #copper #texture #materials #tests