What happened next to the Hole in the Rock?

by | Apr 8, 2023 | Blog | 0 comments

As you will remember if you’ve read my last blog, I was busy trying to create a piece of glass inspired by this picture. As previously mentioned, I had participated in an online glass course, that explored the process of screen-printing in powdered glass..

I left off at the point where two of the four printed layers were completed. The third layer was proving difficult, designers block was getting in my way. As is often the case with these things the answer laid in simplicity, more sky was needed! I created the third layer in the same way I created the first but increased the density of the powder layer. This was because the glass I was printing on was transparent, as opposed to opaque. Transparent glass will dilute the colour and I didn’t want the layer to get lost.
This layer worked well, adding a sense of depth to the project. I still hadn’t quite fathomed how the final printed layer would work. I knew I wanted it to be a dark arch that framed the distant sea, but how could I achieve this? My first attempt, as shown below was too dark and overbearing. I turned my attention to an alternative stencil making process. Speedball is a system where a water- based product, which is blue in colour, is used to paint areas that you want to print. Once this is done and dried, a water-resistant layer is applied. This layer is red and blocks the holes in the screen so that nothing can pass through. The water-resistant layer is left to dry, then the water- based layer is washed away, leaving the stencil is ready for use. I printed an initial dark grey layer, using my trusted sticky backed plastic. I then printed over the top with the Speedball stencil. I was delighted with the result: it had texture and gave me the craggy look I wanted.
Once all four layers had been fired construction of the final piece could begin.
Each piece was carefully cleaned and stacked in the correct order. To help minimise bubbles, which are always an issue when firing multiple layers, small pieces of clear glass were placed between the layers. Finally, two layers of clear glass were used to cap the piece. The piece required careful damming to prevent the glass from flowing out once it reached a liquid state within the kiln.
Finally, there was nothing more I could do but to programme the kiln and hope all my hard work had paid off. The kiln took over 24 hours to fire and cool, the wait to see the result seemed like forever! On initial inspection it appeared that the kiln paper had collapsed onto surface, potentially spoiling the whole thing but fortunately once removed from the kiln and cleaned my fears proved unfounded, it was perfect!

This entire project has been tremendous fun. It has challenged my abilities and I have learnt such a lot along the way. My imagination is fired up with other ideas that I can see would lend themselves to this technique and I look forward to experimenting and taking screen-printing with powders further – watch this space!
There is an amazing postscript to this blog. Yesterday I placed the finished piece in my studio and within the hour a delightful lady came into see what I was up to and bought “The Hole in The Rock”- this was certainly my quickest sale ever, and certainly the most enjoyable! To make things even more special she told me she was buying it memory of her father who had recently passed away – I feel privileged to have a piece of my work purchased for such a personal reason.

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