Cultivate Bursary - Glass casting course with Liz Pearson

Thanks to a Cultivate training bursary from Made in Corby I was fortunate to attend an inspiring two day glass casting course at the National Centre for Craft and Design in Sleaford. This may have seemed a strange choice as I don't usually work with clay and don't have a glass casting kiln. However as a printmaker / maker of temporary installations / interventions I am fascinated by making multiples, refections, impressions, light, shade and translucency. 

Course tutor and glass artist

Liz Pearson at NCCD

Examples of her glass casts

Materiels to impress in clay

Testing materials and the impressions they make

Trace working area

Finalise design for casting

Place template in mould frame to check size

Place clay inside the mould frame with a few cms clear all round and paint inside of frame with washing up liquid to act as release agent. make frame water tight with clay. Mix plaster, and pour from the corner. agitate table to dispel air bubbles

Wait for plaster to set remove frame

Once plaster is dry gently clean the mould, removing traces of clay.

Mould is then fired to withstand glass casting process.

Draw freehand design into spare clay

place in tub and pour on plaster.

Once plaster is set, release, clean and fire as before

Day two - we carved into the fired plaster batts

Using lino tools to create slumping moulds.

We then learnt how to cut the glass to size ready for firing.

We used fritt and glass scraps  to create small pieces.

Fired casts - mine is the darker blue piece above centre

I am excited by the processes I learnt over the course of the weekend and know that what I saw and experienced will influence future work. It was also inspiring to see the other exhibitions in glass and textiles also on display. It was hugely beneficial to spend time in the company of other artists / makers, with hours just to learn and explore. I feel refreshed and excited and wonder where this might take me next!

The Eloquent Fold - A Love letter to Corby - Session 1

Workshop One​ Monday 21st January 2pm to 5pm

This two session pilot project was devised to investigate whether there would be scope for a larger scale, future project,  in which The Eloquent Fold could work more widely with the various communities in Corby. The pilot scheme was made possible by a Cultivate Seed Funding Grant from Made in Corby through the Cultivate scheme.

 Prior to the workshop Phiona Richards and I spent a morning 

cutting and printing samples for the workshop to use during

our marketing and ticketing of the events. 

We invited participants to come and express some love in a two part printmaking and embellishment workshop at Corby Library. The Librarians were wonderful hosts, making sure everyone felt welcome and had enough space to create their work without disrupting the flow of day to day Library business.

Phiona brought along a variety of sample fonts

During the first workshop participants were printmaking with me, using embossed wallpaper and water based inks to produce textured prints of their chosen letters. Participants chose a background paper and a contrasting paper to cut out their letters

After both parts were inked and the paper damped

the 'plates' were sent through my press

The group were encouraged to experiment by changing their colour palette or swapping backgrounds with someone else. Most people made several different letters an at least thee A3 prints and two A4 prints. 

Elaine's O

Janey's B

My digital collage!

Quite a few people were taking part in the 

64 Milllion Artists January Challenge

Ann used one of her letters to share

her Good News Day

 and I made a little photo collage.

The Eloquent Fold are Carole Miles and Phiona Richards

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