3D Print to Cast Glass

I worked on these objects over a couple of months, getting into all the details and the technical process. Even though I am now very familiar with the objects, I find that once displayed with the intent of the artist, with all the fittings, lighting and arrangement, the works go through a significant transformation.

Nathan provided the Canberra Glassworks production team with 5 filament 3D printed ‘hands’ and 3 resin 3D printed sculptures (scanned Thai Buddhist works held in the NGA’s collection). See more of the finished artworks here. If you are curious about the concept behind these artworks, I would highly recommend listening to this ABC interview with Daniel Browning and Nathan Beard.

My role was to cast these objects in glass, and I started by making silicone rubber moulds of each 3D print. This is an involved process with many steps!

We decided to start with the large head as it would require significant time in the kiln (34 days), and while that was cooking, I could get on with the trickier casts of the hands.

• I usually start with blocking around the form with an even layer of clay and then make a hard case multi-part plaster case around the clay.

• Remove the clay

• Clean up and pour silicon between the object and the case.

• Once the silicon is set, it can be cut open, and the model removed.

• Next step is to pour the wax and wait for that to cool.

• Remove wax and clean up

• Once you have waxes, we make lost wax investment moulds (plaster and silica) for glass casting

• Steam out the wax

• Take moulds and glass to the kiln

• Fire! Well, leave in the kiln to heat and cool.

• Remove moulds from kiln and carefully remove investment mould material.

These hands were a challenge for me, given the angles and smoothness of the models. The hands were cast in blue crystal, only weighing in under 2kg, while the largest bust was 20kg.

I took a day trip to Melbourne to see the works exhibited - the setting was very minimal, but the glass and jewels on the dark wood table looked rich and lush.