Really interesting and cool!

[Glassroots]

So there is this lady that lives down the street from me that does these really interesting pieces. She takes raw elements and combines them with her blown glass to create crystals. I know we talk a lot about crystal growth with silver and other elements but she takes this in a different direction. Check out her website and let me know what you think.

http://www.thermallab.com/


She also gave me some base formulas to try with lampworking. I don't know how I feel about it yet. The stuff is super toxic and even though my vent is good it does not seem worth the risk..... any ideas on this?

[menty666]

neat :)

[Slackadelic]

crazy stuff on her site! I concur :D

[TorchedGlass]

Give it a try on a small scale. That stuff looks really awesome. It looks like she forms raw minerals on her pieces. What kind of formulas did she give you. Some ceramics glazing formulas?

[Glassroots]

Totally, its ceramic ideas applied to glass. Major issues with COE and firing temperatures but could work for someone who put some time into the project.

[Hunter]

too cool! how is she doing that?

[gypsea]

wild!

[Snurf]

nutz! looks like soft glass. does she know the coe of those glaze formulas? be carefull when playing with those powders! i would love to se what works for ya

[UmaJulz]

I think she is using the raw minerals that you use in ceramics glazes, but not using the glaze compound itself. Some of her images have zinc crystal growth (they look like frost) which is a favorite of mine in glazed ceramics. It takes precision to get the crystals to form, grow, and stop before the piece is ruined. She must be the bomb!

[Batou]

how... what the... wow. thats really cool!

[Glassroots]

yes, she uses the raw elements as a potter would. It is all done in the furnace and the crystal growth is formed when in the annealer similar to silver etc.. We are skeptical that this will work with boro but it is worth a shot. In pottery its called crystaline glazes.

[Snurf]

ah my Ceramics teacher made some dope bottles with chrystaline Glazes....it definitly got very viscous during firing. the glaze would run so much that he had to fire all pieces on catch basins to catch all the run off glaze. I rember that he had to keep the pieces at a specific temp to grow the crystals.

[e-jipt]

never seen anything like that, kick ass

[ech]

Dude that shit is cutting edge. You should get her to come on here and talk about her stuff. I bet she has much knowledge of glass chemistry. Really cool.

[Glassroots]

She has a chemistry phd, definitely science and art on another level

[nicko0]

yay new stuff to try please keep us posted on what you try. it looks very cool. post some formulas and ill try.

[Phoenix]

wow- just looking at those makes me want to talk to her - and play with new ideas!

[FredLight]

Hey Ratty dog,

Viscous is the opposite of what you think it is.

Becoming viscous would mean it thickened up and slowed down.