‘Walking the Shore’ series, fused glass wall art panels

‘Walking the Shore’ is an ongoing collection of subtly textured glass landscapes focusing on my local coastline and its differing moods, as observed during walks along the shore. Although these works are all about my local shoreline, I don’t seek to capture particular scenes but to evoke a sense of place to which the viewer can bring their own perspective.

Small textured fused glass and glass powder panels mounted on 25cm (10″) square white wooden panels, ready to hang.

PROCESS

These pieces start with a collagraph printing plate; a piece of board collaged with textures which can be anything from textiles and textured papers to acrylic medium. The printing plate is then used to create a single use mould onto which glass powder is built up in layers. The layers are built up face down, working from front to back, and coloured glass in powder form is mostly greyish whatever colour it will be when fired, so to a certain extent the selection and application of the colours has to rely on instinct and experience.
Once there are enough layers built up the piece is backed with a sheet of glass and fired in the kiln. After firing (which typically takes around 24 hours) the edges are finished and the panel is sandblasted and sealed before mounting.