After much research

I developed a way of painting with liquid glass

I approach glass with a painter’s sensibility; this inspires me to design and make glass for casting. In blowing and handshaping hot glass, we layer up colours, shapes and line, at all times considering how colours will flow when the glass is once again reheated inside a mold.

Since I setup a professional full-time practice in 2016, I have been exploring how to create fluidity and movement of colour. We start by blowing a bubble of colour, then layering on further colour that is distorted and pulled with a metal tool. Later I stack these pieces inside a casting mold. When the kiln gets hot, I rely on the air pockets of blowing, and the air between shapes, to manipulate colour further as the glass flows to fill the mold. In casting, bubbles rise through the glass, that further distort layers of colour with clear.

Timing is essential. I have learnt how to manipulate these elements - of air, heat, gravity - to generate and freeze movement inside glass. I like to think of the effect as dropping ink into water. Working in sync with materials in this way — sometimes leading, sometimes stepping back — is what makes the work fresh, energetic and dynamic.