Cone Shaped Bowl with Melted Glass, No.19a Sculpture

This is another example from a series of experimental works made with the intention of illustrating that there can be more beauty and interest 'inside' something than the 'outside' might suggest. The bowl was made using coils. The cone shape was created using a 'former' - a veterinary protective collar used to stop dogs from scratching at sores. The work was first bisque fired to 960º. Magnesium and cobalt oxides were applied before crushed glass was positioned in each pocket. For the glaze firing the bowl was heated to 1150º (stoneware) and 'soaked' for one hour and then slowly cooled down. The intention was to provide a significant number of small rectangular pockets into which crushed glass could be melted. They suggest steps leading into blue water, the bottom of the bowl having been filled with crushed blue bottle glass fused to the clay. The depth of the work is deceptive insofar as the inside looks far deeper than it actually is, because of the intensity of the inner forms and the colours and layers. From start to finish a piece of work of this nature will take anything up to 40 hours to make as there is the: preparation of the coils; the building and carving; first firing; underglazing; glazing; preparation of glass;and the second firing of work. Plus there is also the cost of the clay itself, the expense of the firing process (twice) plus the underglazes and glazes.