Chris Boha
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Hollow Casting glass work boots

17/12/2013

7 Comments

 
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Like so many things today when we see glass in its finished state, be it vase, sculpture, bowl, window, etc. we are often very removed from the process of how it is made. So I am trying to document as much of my making process as possible to give people an idea of exactly how my work is made. 

I'll start with a work that is in the kiln as the moment and will be annealing or cooling down for around two months. This is a picture of me topping off the mould with molten glass.  

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I started by taking a silicone mood of some old used work boots that I picked up from an op-shop/thrift store. I then cast the boots in a plaster silica mould mixture as seen above. The silicone moulds are amazing a picking up and transferring detail from the original object to the cast. 
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As the boots were cast individually I then built walls around them and poured more of the mould mixture around them to join them together. 
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The mould walls were then cast as separate slabs as you can see above. They were then placed around the boots and locked into place against the side of the kiln.
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Now the kiln is ready to turn on and bring up to casting temperature which is around 840-50 degrees C. 
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There is a few was to cast glass, one way is to put cold glass chunks into the mould and bring them up to around 840 degree C and let the glass flow into your mould. Another way is hot casting, which is done by gathering molten glass out of the furnace on a punty (a stainless steel rod) and dropping/cutting it into the mould. 
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Here is Gab, Drew and myself filling the mould. Casting in this way is definitely a group activity.  
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The mould is filled and ready to start the long and very slow process of annealing (cooling down). With glass it is very important that it cools evenly and because the glass is so thick it takes a long time for the heat from the centre to reach the same temperature as the outside, so you have to cool it very very very slowly… At the moment this kiln is even having trouble coming down 2 degrees an hour and as such it looks like it might take almost two months to get down to room temperature. 
7 Comments
Sonya A
20/8/2014 03:12:50 pm

I want a Man Cinderella boot!! He is out by 12!! And yes, I'm Serious!!

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Mike link
10/2/2017 12:13:47 am

This is truly amazing! What talent you have! I love the glass work boots - it is such a unique idea! Thanks for sharing.

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Mary link
4/4/2017 01:24:20 am

How cool is this idea! Thanks for sharing. What an amazing talent you have!

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Peter Heywood link
5/8/2018 04:54:11 am

Interesting! 2 comments:
1) What are the prod and cons of casting with molten glass, versus melting bits of cold glass in the mould (which is the way I've done it in the past),
2) Please post photos of the finished piece

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Kevin Randolph link
25/8/2021 12:20:42 pm

Helllo mate great blog post

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Kristian
2/12/2022 04:18:27 pm

I just found your old blog post since I’m researching on how to clean up the plaster from within the glass blog. My dad past away 3years ago and I wanted to keep his passion (and mine) alive by not only reusing his moulds but also creating my own. My project is very similar to yours only I don’t have boots but my dad’s and my hands holding eachother. The mold has been sitting there unused for quite some time, because I still haven’t figured out how to clean the inside of the glass completely from the plaster.
How did you do it and how did the piece look in the end?
Any tips would be highly appreciated since I only have a little knowledge and the shared experience from my das.

Reply
Peter Heywood link
2/12/2022 11:23:09 pm

This wasn’t my project but I’ve sometimes used coka-cola to clean crevices in cast glass

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    I am a Canadian artist who now lives in Adelaide, Australia. I have a background in glass, sculpture and public sculpture.   

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