Public installations 2

There has been a gap in my postings as several events have occurred. First my niece had a big wedding at which I got to wear a complete highland outfit, using the Flower of Scotland tartan. Next day was my birthday, so our side of the wedding party came to the house - hungover or not - and we had food and drinks. Third and I am sure it was nothing to do with all this, I got flu and spent several days in bed. Those are my excuses and I'm sticking to it.

To continue with some of the public installations I have designed.

The Scottish Football Association constructed a new stand round Hampden Park, the national football (soccer for the USA people). I was asked to design and install a ceiling for the reception offices of the SFA. Below are some pictures of it. Although I had asked for and was assured that a 1 metre high light box would be constructed, it in the end was only 300mm high. This means the light is not diffused as well as it should be, leading to a stripey effect.

The first photo shows the piece as installed on Christmas eve minus one day. Only the last panel remains to be installed. The lighting has no chance to diffuse round the whole of the installation.

This second photo shows the ceiling as it exists today. Extra lighting was put in place, but still the striped effect is visible. Still, I am happy with the images of the shapes made by footballers in action. I did sneak in one female footballer.

SFA Offices. Fused glass in steel frame 4m x 3m

Earlier that year I finished another ceiling panel. This time it was a skylight. It is installed in Miller's Bistro, North Berwick. The theme relates to the hills and rocks around the area, and to the sea and the birds of the area.

Miller's Bistro upon completion, daylight. Fused glass and steel frame, 3m square

Another restaurant installation is at Rococo, an excellent Glasgow restaurant. This is based on Australian Aboriginal sand paintings. It is set out 100mm from the wall on bolts with copper spacers and illuminated with overhead spotlights.

Dream Time 1. Fused glass applied to sandblasted safety sheet glass, 1500mm x 800mm

Public installations

Although I am new to the process of blogging, I have been involved with glass for quite a while as you can see from my CV posted earlier.

It seems appropriate to indicate some of the larger public installations that I have completed.

This one, entitled "Don't Rain on My Parade" is one of a series installed in a cocktail bar originally entitled Bloody Mary's but because of a legal dispute has been renamed with an anagram of the original title. It is made from a combination of fused glass and brass shim. This is located in Glasgow's trendy West End.

Another project which was much less intimate in scale was for the Glasgow City Parks Department. This piece is 4 metres high. The subject matter was determined by the Parks Department. The steel frame was made to my design, after the specifications for the whole installation were decided. This picture shows it installed at the Hampton Palace Garden Show with water flowing toward the viewer. It was later installed at the Glasgow Garden Show and is now permanently installed in Queens' Park, Glasgow.

This pair of panels was made for the Glasgow University staff bar. Is there a theme here about watering holes? The University decided to close the staff bar and use the space for lecture rooms. You would never think this could happen in Calvinistic Scotland, would you? I removed these panels just before the renovations were begun to make sure they were not damaged. They are pictured here before they were returned to the University and installed in light boxes.

A Powder and Frit Fused Panel

An example of how the studio and equipment hire works in the studio occurred yesterday. A few weeks ago an artist from South West Scotland rang up and booked the kiln and a studio bench for a day. Thursday was agreed upon after discussion of her requirements. I essentially provided the space for her to realise her work in glass.

She worked with a sheet of 10mm float glass and powders which she over layed onto the glass with a small canister with a fine screen as the top. Throughout the day the image began to appear. The real difficulty in doing this work is judging the depth of colour that the powders will produce. Obvious piles of powder and frit will produce more dense colour, but it is not always easy to tell where the powder is thin, even when done over a light box.

This is the panel prepared and sitting in the kiln ready to fire.

We discussed the differing firing characteristics of our two kilns. Where she would go to 795C for a full fuse of float glass in her 400mm square kiln, I go to 835C for 40 minutes in my 2 metre kiln to get an invisible seal of two or more sheets of float. Since this was already a single layer, that temperature and soak was not necessary. She wanted a bit of texture, but not a rough one, so we settled on 825C for 10 mins. She was also unsure the effect of size, ca. 650 by 750mm and thickness in relation to the smaller work she does in her kiln. So we settled on a modification of Stone's schedule for 10mm glass - a little slower heat up and a little longer annealing soak (a lot longer actually).

I'm happy to say that when she came in this afternoon, she was pleased with the result.

The finished piece still in the kiln.

The piece came out of the kiln with a profile so that the frit pieces were noticeable, but not sharp or lumpy. Everything was fire polished and shiny. Notice how much brighter and more intense the colours are after firing. The variations in density of colour is related both to the thickness of the powder application and to the amount of frit applied. Some is more obvious than in other areas. Where she applied frit over the powder, small clear halos appeared. She had planned for this and compensated by applying more powder over the fritted areas.

This is one example of how I work with an experienced glass artist. Artists and enthusiasts who are not so experienced get a bit more involvement from me.