Project Proposal - Claire Settle
Materials: Industrial Float Glass, Ciment Fondue, Dicksonia antarctica (Soft Tree Fern) Polypodium Vulgare (Small tree fern), Bletchnum Spirant (Hard Fern) Pteridium aquilinum (Bracken)
Summary
Exploring the properties of waste industrial float glass as a realistic replacement to art glass and combining it with art cement (Ciment Fondue). Over recent months, I have been exploring the potential of industrial float glass as a medium in my artwork. Unlike traditional art glass, float glass presents unique challenges and unpredictability. After much deliberation and testing I am beginning to have an understanding of how it might be possible to fuse float glass effectively and include a fern inclusion within the fused glass. A small fused square (three inch square) piece of industrial glass (float glass) incorporating a fern will form the base of each bowl. Each glass base will have a different type of UK woodland fern fused into it. As the base glass is clear, it will be possible to see light through the glass as each base will have four small feet fused to them, to allow the light to escape through the bottom of the bowl resulting in the fern shadow to be visible on the surface on which the bowl stands.
Method
Jesmonite is an interesting product which I have recently worked with, and, though I like it as a product, it is expensive, and at times, unpredictable. I have decided instead to proceed with Ciment Fondue. This is a material I have used in the past and I therefore propose to make four bowls using Ciment Fondue. Using a ball as a mould I will endeavour to make the bowls in an upside down position, fastened to a banding wheel to allow rotation of the proposed bowl. The ball and banding wheel will be housed in a wooden frame to assist with stability during production. Using this method I can achieve a smooth and curved interior to the bowl. My aim is to make four medium sized bowls, each with a glass inclusion in the base which will have a fern fused between two pieces of the glass. The glass piece will also have four small feet, to allow the light to escape from the base of the bowl, illuminating the fern further.
This project emphasises sustainability by repurposing float glass as a fully useable medium. With recent research confirming that cement absorbs CO2 over time Wang,Y Li, X, & Liu, R. (2022), I am satisfied that this contributes to the reduction of its overall carbon footprint.
The four different fern inclusions within the glass panels (with feet) symbolise the positive effect of light, and the healing that the natural world shares with us, improving our state of mind and emotions, the cement bowl illustrates the sometimes harsh and unyielding world we live in.
Wang, Y., Li, X. & Liu, R. (2022) ‘The Capture and Transformation of Carbon Dioxide in Concrete: A Review’, Symmetry, 14(12), p. 2615. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/sym14122615 .
Comments