Ground glass and copper
Had a neat recall this evening while watching that show about how stuff is made. Back in high school, through pure bad luck, I had to take one year of “art”. May have marked me for a lifetime. Didn’t turn me into a practicing artist, for sure. But there was that one project.
It involved technology. A kiln, mysterious, in one corner of the classroom. Pieces of copper. Bottles of glass dust. Added together: ceramics. I remember choosing my piece of copper stock, carefully, and then spending days with various grades of sandpaper, turning it into a mirror. Warned about the horror of a fingerprint, I learned to carefully wash my piece in soapy water and then dry it off.
Next, a design. Nothing elaborate; some basic forms, and the chance to carefully apply a layer of glass, in the colours of my choice. There’s a step missing, but somehow the powder stayed in place, long enough to transfer the piece to a place in the kiln on top of tiny ceramic fingers. And then, it baked, much like a muffin, until done. And then it cooled, for what seemed like an eternity (I was thirteen, and my sense of passing time was skewed).
Finally, the chance to attach a chain, and my pendant was done. I don’t have it any more (maybe in a cupboard at my parents?), but I remember, as if it was yesterday. I’m sure I could do another, if ever the chance presented itself. No, the kitchen oven doesn’t get hot enough. And ground glass isn’t good for anything else. But it was fun.
