I'm really having fun making these flower- headed plant people toys!

Accidents

Some people thought these were creepy before. Now they're really horrifying.

My work met gravity from a height while displayed in a gallery.

I'm not happy about it, but worse things have happened in the world.

This piece included heads that I sculpted in cernit with lampworked glass eyes, hand- forged sterling silver jewelry, and handmade (and dyed) wigs.

Another RISCA show!

Elena Calderón-Patiño, RISCA's Community Arts Program Director, curated a show at the Atrium Gallery in 1 Capitol Hill (across the street from the Rhode Island State House.) Elena is working to support creativity from diverse ethnic communities, and this is a show of work by Asian artists. The work pictured above is in the show, which will be on display until the end of August.

Glass Robot and Sculpted Glass Heads

The Big Fab Academy Project

That's what!

Follow this link to the longer post on the Fab Academy blog.

Lampwork Tutorial: Three Types of Simple Glass Eyes

A Possible Application of Lampworked Glass Eyes in Puppetry

This is pretty funny as it is, and there's plenty more potential here.

A Tour of Handmade Dolls and Puppets with Lampworked Glass Eyes

Before I demonstrate three ways to lampwork simple glass eyes, I'll show you some projects in which I've used them.

New heads

I sculpted two new doll head pendants in Cernit. This one has faceted black rhinestones for eyes. I think she will be Nepali or Tibetan.

This one has glass eyes that I flameworked. I think he'll be of the Nez Perce tribe. Do you know about Chief Joseph? "I will fight no more forever."
I look forward to researching how they should be adorned!

Older doll heads

I think this was one of the first dolls I sculpted using glass eyes that I had flameworked. I didn't realize at the time that the clay had to be a certain minimum (and consistent) thickness to not crack. The chest cracked at the neck because the clay was too thin where the head pressed down into the torso.

I really like using fine wool for hair. I can't think of another material that has strands that are more accurately to scale.

There was a contest to make a music video for Bjork when Volta was released. I sculpted this Bjork head for a doll that I used in my entry. The video is below (December 16th's post,) or you can find it on my Youtube channel.


All of these heads have faces that are about one inch long.

More finishing

I finished decorating the other doll head pendant that I sculpted in Cernit. The hair is wool, the jewelry is sterling silver, and the face was painted with acrylics. I also flameworked the glass eyes.

New doll head pendants

Freshly baked Cernit heads with handmade glass eyes

This is what the head on the left looked like before decorating.

I glued shells to the scalp as hair. The face was painted with acrylics and I made her jewelry from sterling silver and pearls.

The necklace is waiting for a pendant.

This head will be the pendant for a necklace made of larger shells that I got in Cebu.

Sculpting a head

First, I create some kind of skull from aluminum foil and set the eyes that I made out of glass. Loops of stainless steel wire are inserted where I will later hang earrings.

Next I add a few pieces of clay (here I used Cernit) to create a skin that holds everything together.

I add more clay to create mass where the features will be.

The surface of the head with is smoothed out with my fingers. Then I pinch bits of clay off the face to define the contours.

I finish sculpting the features carefully with my fingertips, and with sewing needles.

Here is a little bust that I have yet to paint, wig, and adorn with tiny jewelry.

Lasercut pieces

This is a sheet of lasercut pieces for the jointed figures. This material is matboard from a frame shop.

This is a press- fit swingset that I lasercut from 1/4" thick wood.

I drew these shapes on a computer with a mouse, which took a very long time and hurt my wrist. I am investing in a tablet so I can draw more comfortably on the computer.

Sita's Mala

While playing I realized another possible configuration for the many arms of my lasercut jointed figures.

They now present:

Sita's Mala! I flameworked way more than 108 glass beads to make this bracelet. Tomorrow it begins its journey to its new home in Honolulu!

Lasercutting!

I drew, then cut and assembled these jointed figures!

Pyrex

When I started flameworking 12 years ago, one of the first things I tried to assemble was a jointed glass doll. I had small jointed porcelain dolls in mind, like ones that were made in England and Germany from the mid- 1800s to the early 1900s.

Pyrex is a trademarked name for borosilicate glass. "Boro" (from borosilicate) is also known as "hard glass" because it is more resistant to thermal and physical shock than "soft glass." Soft glass is usually of a soda lime composition, and it has a lower melting temperature than hard glass. Initially, it took me some time to adjust to the fact that some glass could be described as "soft" and, even if glass is 1600 degrees it might still be called "cold" (because it might not be hot enough to flow.)

Above and below are some things that I flameworked in Pyrex. My fingers are in the photo for scale, but mostly because these things wouldn't hold themselves up to be photographed. At the top is a small face that I want to frame with silver and colored soft glass. The other 2 photos are of a tiny jointed glass robot.

These are arms for a jointed glass action figure.

These are the head and torso for a jointed glass action figure.

When working in Pyrex, I use almost only colorless clear glass. I know that when a lot of people see my glass work they assume that it's plastic or painted clay, especially if the colors are bright. Also, some people do no believe me when I tell them at a sale(!) that I make the chains out of glass. I don't want (right now) to make brightly colored chains that look even more like plastic to some.

These are glass chains. I flameworked every link individually in 2 millimeter Pyrex.

This glass chain is a form study for a strap I want to attach to a glass chain maille dress.

This is a fake septum ring that I call "The Jack Frost." I think it's funny that this jewelry makes a nose look runny.
In white it's, "The Milk Snort," in red it's, "The Nosebleed," in green it's, "The Virus," in black it's, "The Chimney Sweep."

A frustrating day in the lab

This morning I attempted to lasercut a branch into thin slices, but either it wasn't cut all the way through, or it completely charred. Then I wasted a lot of time trying to accomplish one small task because I couldn't find the appropriate tools to use. The lab is fairly diorganized and both rooms get utilized by so many people that things are constantly being moved around. Because most things don't yet have places where they belong there aren't true locations to return them to. Yet.

I'm getting on the torch now to make glass eyes for dolls, both to use in the semester project diorama(s) as well as to bring to the Los Angeles sale in January.
I made all of the dolls below. I flameworked the glass eyes and glass teeth, I sculpted the faces and the bodies, sewed the clothing, made the wigs, flameworked the jewelry.

A trapezist with a tiny flameworked necklace

Swella, a doll purse

My biggest one yet- she's about 4 feet tall.