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Slumped Glass Corner Sign

Hand Lettering topics: Sign Making, Design, Fabrication, Letterheads, Sign Books.

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DAVE SMITH
Posts: 1213
Joined: Sat Jul 10, 2004 11:12 am
Location: ENGLAND

Slumped Glass Corner Sign

Post by DAVE SMITH »

Hi again everyone

I made a couple of these glass curved signs as a test for a possible job here . I made one for Larry White and one for my wall in my studio. First I acid etched a matt finish onto flat pieces of glass, then slumped them between stainless steel curves to make a half round shape. They came out the kiln very clean without any marks on the glass .Once they had cooled I gilded them in various tones of gold.
Then I finally scratched lines to make the shading and added the text . I cleaned the surrounding area and painted it all black to make it pop out. the Mortar end was brilliant cut with a puntie oval wheel.
This glass piece will have a mahogany frame made for it, the other piece was glass nipped all round the edge. the slumping makes it look very old. The size of this piece is 11'' high
Dave


Image

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Last edited by DAVE SMITH on Fri Jun 01, 2007 2:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Larry White
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Post by Larry White »

Crikey Moses! That's over the moon!

:D
Kelly Thorson
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Location: Penzance, SK Canada
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Post by Kelly Thorson »

WOW!
I find your posts so inspiring. Your stuff is always over the top Dave!
I believe there is no shame in failure. Rather, the shame lies in the loss of all the things that might have been, but for the fear of failure.
DAVE SMITH
Posts: 1213
Joined: Sat Jul 10, 2004 11:12 am
Location: ENGLAND

Post by DAVE SMITH »

Thankyou Kellly. They are always good fun to do and share with all of you talented folk on this forum. I am off on a Slumping/fusing course on Saturday and Sunday ,I did a course in Northern Ireland about a year ago on big fused glass panels, tommorrow we are making plates and jewellery should be fun few days. Hopefully I will bring some samples back to show you.
See you. have a good weekend.
Dave
Wayne Osborne
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Joined: Tue Jun 15, 2004 2:03 am
Location: West Sussex.England

Post by Wayne Osborne »

Brilliant Dave -
Keep on amazing us- and challenging yourself
Doug Bernhardt
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Location: Ottawa Canada
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Post by Doug Bernhardt »

Yikkes! Are you well? Do you have a life? Just drop dead gorgeous Smitty.
Kent Smith
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Location: Estes Park, CO
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Slumped

Post by Kent Smith »

Smartly done cousin!
Roderick Treece
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Location: San deigo Calif
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Chipping on 1/8" glass

Post by Roderick Treece »

Has anybody chipped on 1/8 glass before?

Roderick
DAVE SMITH
Posts: 1213
Joined: Sat Jul 10, 2004 11:12 am
Location: ENGLAND

Post by DAVE SMITH »

Well thanks Doug and cousin Kent. All fired up to slump glass now, just returned from a slumping and fusing course in Bristol UK. Had a great time and learnt loads of techniques,well recommend this type of course.
They were saying in Bristol that a great course to go on is one in Portland Oregon at The Bullseye glass Co. Lots of melting for me now for a while!
Dave
Ron Berlier
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Joined: Fri Apr 09, 2004 3:27 am

Post by Ron Berlier »

Sir Dave,

As asways a delight to view your EXCELLENT craftsmanship :!: :!: The word inspirational is not stong enough to describe the visual impact of your fine work. It's so great to see folks like you (Larry, John, Doug, etc. too) that truly have a huge passion for what they do. Please do continue to share with all of us here. While some of us may not be able to achieve your level of perfection ----- most of us do like to drool. :lol:


Hummmm, Portland, Oregon eh, that's about an hour an fifteen minute drive from where I live now. :)
Ron Berlier
Wherever I go, there I am.
DAVE SMITH
Posts: 1213
Joined: Sat Jul 10, 2004 11:12 am
Location: ENGLAND

Post by DAVE SMITH »

Well thankyou Ron. I appreciate that. If you get a chance I would recommend a visit to The Bullseye glass Co. So much to learn in glass fusing ,very cool stuff going on in these glass techniques . You can still use it for signwork also. Let us know how you go Ron.
See you
Dave
Doug Bernhardt
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slumping/workshops

Post by Doug Bernhardt »

So Dave....I've seen you have been bending glass for a while already and it would be good to hear more about the cool new stuff you added to the process (and Bristol workshop in general) But more to the point...is this something you'll be discussing at your upcoming workshops? ....and for that matter are they still on track? Time for an update.
DAVE SMITH
Posts: 1213
Joined: Sat Jul 10, 2004 11:12 am
Location: ENGLAND

Post by DAVE SMITH »

Doug.
I would love to have come out and done these workshops. I probably left it to late with the first one as there was only 8 people to commit to a workshop at that time and for the second one I was waiting to see what was happening down with Gary in Virginia. I will now plan these for next year as I have 3 more workshops here in the next 4 months and then also we have alot of building and extension work happening on my studio. I still have the list of people that were interested for both workshops. Maybe if people are interested they could post here so I could get some idea on numbers and see who is interested. what is a prefered date with most people for a workshop? I will be also talking about slumped glass at these workshops

Dave
Kent Smith
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Post by Kent Smith »

Sounds fascinating. The only fusing I have done was with early trials of retorts and neon tubing and have only slumped small pieces ie apothecary labels. Also interesting is the design /thought process you go through for your projects as well as your research into the processes you are using.
Doug Bernhardt
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Post by Doug Bernhardt »

Davey Boy.....that project I mentioned earlier is maturing right now and I wasn't 100% satisfied with the slumping test we did here. A fella in the neighbourhood also has a good kiln. The glass looked a little "pebbled" or rippled and am thinking it was the temperature. Make sense? What temperature and time did you use. The piece I'll be doing is about 2x7 ft. All chipping and acid in advance of course.
joe cieslowski
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Location: east canaan ct
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Post by joe cieslowski »

Dave,

What great work!!!! It's hard to describe the emotions work like your's generates. I also know from experience that no matter how good the photos are, you just gotta see it in person. One day I hope I will. And when I do, dial 91_, just in case I don't come to.... :wink:

Thank you for sharing!

Joe,
Makin Chip$ and Havin Fun!
DAVE SMITH
Posts: 1213
Joined: Sat Jul 10, 2004 11:12 am
Location: ENGLAND

Post by DAVE SMITH »

Joe.
Thankyou. Its nice to have some time to experiment. Its always a challenge to make these signs and to share the outcome on this website.
I appreciate your comments mate........ Dougy boy here is the formula I used for bending my glass .Now this may need to change for a bigger piece but it sounds like your temprature is going to high and your holding the final temprature to long,your not needing to go to areas of melting the glass and picking up marks from moulds etc, you just want to let it free fall to the bend required. Its all down to testing and keeping that formula for future glass. Im no expert here just learning as I go, if the glass bends to the shape and is clean without any texture thats all I want. You will occasionally have a difference in shape from either end but that makes it look all the more antique,old and hand crafted. Formula for 20''x26'' glass panel 6ml thick as follows.

segment 1 rate per hr 150 temp 620 degrees hold 25 minutes
segment 2 full speed of kiln 999 temp 530 hold it here for 30m
segment 3 End let cool to room temprature

The above formuls can also be used for oval or round glass signs slumped like the Yosemite pieces that were at Ricks.
I made a stainless steel circle 2 ml gauge say 200ml high 600ml across (2ft) layed the cut circle on top and slumped it free fall without touching the bottom ,came out like a huge lense.
Perfect for a brewery sign.
used a 4ml glass for this one but you could adjust for 6ml 1/4'' glass


the first piece will give you a nice half round glass panel but do your tests. again Pat would know alot about this work would be worth picking his brain for this also.

good luck mate you have my phone number.
Dave
Raymond Chapman
Posts: 345
Joined: Fri Apr 09, 2004 5:50 pm
Location: Temple. Texas

Amazing!

Post by Raymond Chapman »

Simply amazing work Dave. You never fail to stand us all on our ear with your creativity. You never stop learning....and teaching.

This past week I was in Charlotte, North Carolina and mentioned your fine work in one of my workshops because one of the students was asking about glass etching. I couldn't come up with enough words to adequately describe what you were doing but I think they got the idea that you are a master at what you do.

Keep up your great work. It always inspires the rest of us.
Mark Fair
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Joined: Mon Nov 15, 2004 4:33 pm
Location: Montgomery,Al
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Post by Mark Fair »

STUNNING.
DAVE SMITH
Posts: 1213
Joined: Sat Jul 10, 2004 11:12 am
Location: ENGLAND

Post by DAVE SMITH »

Raymond and Mark . Thankyou for those very kind compliments. It means alot to me. It's great to share what we do. Rick Glawson taught us that. Ray, I remember when I visited your studio in 94. I came away with a lot of inspiration that day. Thanks for sharing your talent and work with me.

Dave
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