[PA-NJ Glassblowers] In the Mix: Glass and Ceramics (combining while hot)

Tony Patti gaffer at glassblower.info
Sun May 5 11:48:42 EDT 2013


The current issue of GASnews (Glass Art Society Newsletter), Spring 2013 has
a very interesting article 

concerning the quest to combine WHILE HOT the two materials glass and
ceramics.

 

http://viewer.epaperflip.com/Viewer.aspx?docid=e94ed3fa-724d-4d18-bc82-a19e0
0c43b8b#?page=8

 



 

Below are the first three paragraphs from the article, so you can decide if
you want to read more at

http://viewer.epaperflip.com/Viewer.aspx?docid=e94ed3fa-724d-4d18-bc82-a19e0
0c43b8b#?page=8

 


 

In the Mix: Glass and Ceramics

 

By Dr. Jessamy Kelly

 

As an undergraduate student, I was always told that glass and ceramics could
not be combined in a hot state and that I should not waste my time trying to
make them mix; it just would not work. Many glass students have received
this same message at some point in their education.  At the time I did not
like hearing this information, but relented and decided that perhaps gluing
them together was a good option. This got me an effective quick fix, but a
few years later I decided I wanted more. I applied some perseverance to this
challenging question: how do I mix these two difficult materials in a hot
state? My doctoral research managed to answer this question and turn the
first statement on its head - glass and ceramics can indeed be combined in a
hot state.

 

I completed my practice-based PhD at the University of Sunderland in 2009.
Through my research I successfully combined glass and ceramics in a hot
state, resulting in the creation of a unique series of blown and cast
artworks that fused the two mediums into one. The opportunity to re-write
glass and ceramics history was quite a coup - although if anyone had seen my
earlier testing they would have thought I was quite mad, and indeed possibly
wasting my time, as most of the samples cracked at the beginning. Until I
found my secret ingredient - quartz added to bone china. In this article, I
will talk about my research, my search for materials that would aid my
testing and the artworks that were created. I will also talk about the
scientific, historical and contemporary context that inspired and guided me
through this process.

 

It is usually best to start off with the material science; the mediums of
glass and ceramics are renowned for being difficult to combine, and are
usually regarded as being incompatible due to differences in the materials'
structure. Basically, glass expands when you heat it and ceramic shrinks.
Glass and ceramics have many related material qualities and are processed in
similar ways. Chemically they are alike; however structurally they are very
different, which creates compatibility issues when they are combined in a
hot state. 

 

 


Tony Patti
  
 <http://www.glassblower.info> www.glassblower.info
  
 <mailto:gaffer at glassblower.info> gaffer at glassblower.info

 <http://www.glassblower.info/qr-code.html> QR Code for Tony Patti -
www.glassblower.info

 

 

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