My Lights

My first light is inspired by the perspex models I made for casting. They are not finished ideas, they are more prototypes, ready to be improved and developed. The second light is my development of shapes I can create through the layering of perspex. Its a form I would take into ceramics eventually, the light is spiked and inspired by ice crystals.

I used a grundtal light fixture from Ikea, the bulb is only 10watt so the heat coming off wont melt or cause cracking in the perspex. To change the bulb you can reach into the top of the light and pull it up.

My Final Ceramic Pieces

Once I had cast 4 or 5 of each mould I created, I cleaned them up ready for a low firing at 1000 degrees, this was to allow me to sponge and spray my pieces in underglaze. I attempted underglazing before a firing it worked with one piece, but another piece cracked due to the excessive water going into the slip. I attempted to fill in the crack with white stopper, underglaze and firing. So I ended up sponging and spraying my pieces all different shades from my underglazes so that no piece from a set is the same colour.

Overall I have 26 pieces underglazed, I took 7 of my pieces and used a transparent glaze either just inside, or all over to see how it looked and worked. I do however prefer the matte apperance more than glazed but it does allow my pieces to become functional.

Steps to Casting Models

So this post will look at the process I take from designing my pieces in Solidworks to preparing the model for cutting and then assembling the model ready to be casted. The process is very lengthy but I enjoy being able to alter my designs bit by bit instead of hand building in clay and having no real control or exact structure.

I begin my designs with a recognisable vessel form. I draw out the profile of the form in corel draw and import it into Solidworks, this is then revolved into a vase form to see whether the size is correct. I then go back into Corel Draw and break up the vase profile into 5mm wide layers ready to be revolved in Solidworks again. Creating this piece gives me a form to work around with the bubbles in an assembly.

I use 6 different sized layered bubbles in my assemblies in Solidworks and I match up the layers to create full, flat slices. Once I've adjusted my designs after hours of test pieces I save my assembly as a part and combine all the bubbles together so that they can't be moved, from here I cut extrude the model layer by layer and take a sketch of the layer, save it as a DXF file and import it to Corel Draw where its numbered and ready to cut. 1 file is shown below the vase takes up 3 x 500mm by 500mm pieces of perspex at 5mm thick. I use the company SHEET PLASTICS to order my perspex, If you buy through EBAY with them you can usually get free postage, especially with the clear perspex, at £11.40 a sheet it can be costly to design the models but once the mould is done it can cast up to 100 vases.

Once the files are done they can be laser cut, each piece takes around 20 minutes to complete, I use my universities machine at the moment but I have been quoted around £15 for a sheet if I were to cut outside of university. Below is a video of my vase being cut on the laser cutter, it isn't the fastest machine but it gets the job done much faster than I could do on a band saw.

 

Once cut I have to use my stanley knife with a sharp blade and scrape away the melted edge the laser cutter leaves on the layer before I glue it together as I dicovered while making a mould that the edge causes the model to get stuck. Scraping away the edge also stops the plaster seeping in between the slices which also causes the model to get stuck and nip away the sharp edges. This process takes around 3-4 hours per model but once it's done I can start gluing. I use technicqll glue which is specifically for perspex, it bonds the perspex strong and dries clear. 

Once the model is assembled I begin to turn a spare for the base and a pouring hole on the lathe, and line up my model to work out where the parts will be on the mould, ensuring that they are even as possible. I took a lot of time on the moulds making sure that they were as neat and tight as possible, that way you can make the most of your mould and it is easier to clean up once you slip cast.

Bubble Pot and Low Plate

I recently added 2 new designs to my collection to make it flow. I designed a round plant pot with the cut out bubbles randomly placed; the pot is shorter than the vases I’ve designed but taller than the fruit bowl. I wanted to have pieces in a range of sizes and shapes, but still keep the theme of recognisable vessel forms visible. I was worried about doing the mould for this pot because the bubbles are cut inwards which creates more potential for the plaster to catch in the different bubble holes. As long as I keep the bubbles minimum, and have the bubble less than half way cut out then the mould should work. The pot required a 3 part mould, and a base for the foot ring, and it worked successfully.


The low plate was designed to be a drop out mould, it was a more simple design, but still had to be thought out well so that it would drop out in one part when cast. The bubbles are extruded out the plate like the vases yet more spaced out around a plate shape. All my designs begin with a basic vessel shape that I split into 5mm layers, I then use this form to match up the layered bubbles to the vessel, and this makes it easier to design my pieces by working to the guide. I go through around 20 variations of each design I’ve done to get the piece right, it's a lengthy process overall.

 Above are just a few images of the moulds and casting in the making.