Found at: http://www.obsidianglass.co.za/article/articleprint/113/-1/10/

"Mask"
Top level Obsidian Glass Gallery Sculpture

Author: eZ publish admin

Publishing date: 02.07.2008 09:10

We all wear masks. This one you can see through, from both sides...


Mask


At the end of last year I started a project with masks. I wanted to explore the participation of the viewer even more by making the glass with handles attached. The handles are slightly slanted, so when you pick it up and hold the mask to your face, the elbows are lifted, echoing the shape of the mask with your body. The person looking through the mask becomes the viewed and thusly the sculpture is complete.
Below I give a short description on the process involved to create the work.


It all starts with cutting sheets of glass

Firstly the glass is cut from sheets, as close to the final shape as possible.


The glass is laminated by UV-bonding

After this the sheets are laminated using UV-bonding. This basically creates a solid block of glass which can be ground and polished.


The sides are polished first

The first thing to be worked are the sides, making sure that the surfaces where the handles are going to be are parallel and flush.


A lot of material needs to be removed to obtain the desired shape

Now the glass needs to be shaped. I use a diamond saw to cut into the glass, removing lots of material efficiently.



After the diamond saw the glass needs to be smoothed again

Once the shape is obtained it needs smoothing

After smoothing polishing comes

Checking the glass for scratches

Grinding the facets with a hand held grinder

After the diamond saw the glass needs to be smoothed again. First a rough silcon cabide wheel is used. With my hand held Flex and finer diamond pads the glass is made scratchless. The facets on the sides are also done with the flex using the same process.


Assembled

A purpose made stand out of steel is made to suspend the sculpture by the handles. The handles are connected to the glass by brass flanges using UV-bonding.



The veiwer becomes the viewed

This is what the world looks like through the Mask

 

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