‘When you pick up the cooled block of glass the story it tells of the making is wonderful’
Annie Millar
Hot glass sand casting is such a fantastic way for an artist that is not skilled at glass making to experience glass. To start you get to draw in a sand pit. Yes just like when you were a child. You make a template by pressing into the sand and then you pour molten glass into it. Now at that point glass is seriously hot …we are talking over a 1000 degrees….and it starts to cool immediately, and you can see that happening in front of your eyes. Once the glass has cooled enough to become solid you take a wooden paddle ( I know wooden?) and scoop it out very carefully as it’s still mega hot. So hot you can see steam coming from it as it dries the damp sand. But, and here’s the thing, if you just left it out to cool it would crack, so you have to put it in a kiln and let it cool down gently. The next day that breath taking moment of the reveal is so wonderfully fulfilling. As you hold the glass up you can see all your marks that you planned in the sand echoed in the glass, but with all the little extras that such a fluid mould will insert.
Annie’s art and thoughts 