With approximately three pounds of oil-based, sculptor’s clay (plastaline), carve and form a model. Work on a smooth board-like piece of melamine or formica. If you don't have a board I have some in the shop you can use.Any good art supply store should have a selection of plastaline clay to choose from. I would suggest you start with one medium brick. Softer clay is easier to work with out of the box, but it is also more prone to loosing detail from constant bumping into it and warm temperatures. If the clay is hard or firm it can be warmed up in the sun or microwave, which makes it easier to use. Keep the clay contained and out of reach of children or pets. Because it is oil based, it can be messy. If you drop some on the floor you may want to pick it up before it spreads. Although it is not toxic it does have a tenacious odder that I find un-appealing and difficult to get off my hands, so I sometimes wear gloves.

When you decide what you want to make, consider how thick you want to make it. Remember if it is too thin and narrow it could be hard to dig out the clay from the mold. Avoid hair like thinness. Details on the surface are acceptable so long as the clay comes out easily. Any clay left in the mold as we are firing will create somewhat of a stench as the kiln comes up to temperature and excessive amounts of it can cause a residue which gets caught in the glass that must be cold worked away. I have found that when taking out the clay, it is possible to use compressed air to facilitate getting clay out. (Protective eye classes at this point maybe helpful). As you are carving and developing your form think about how the glass will enter into the mold once the clay is removed. The model should have a wide base area for purposes of getting the glass into the mold later. Additionally, overly thin to thick glass castings are prone to more stress and may break later. Think about how the piece will sit. Will it be like a paperweight or would you like to hang it on the wall. Be creative! “One never goes so far as when one doesn't’t know where one is going.” Goethe

For this first project the studio will supply clear glass for our use. You may bring other types of colored glass if you wish to use color. We may have some additional ones in the shop available for purchase. (Please contact me directly if you are considered with COE and please no lead glass this first project.)

Depending on the size of our class we may need to keep the models small so that we can get them all in the kiln and have a quick firing schedule? Please try to keep your models no thicker than two inches.

It will be helpful for you to arrive to class with you model done and ready to go. Once we have assessed everyone's model we will progress to mold making. For this project we will use molding plaster and Silica Flour mixed 50/50. The mold making process takes considerable class time and depending on the size of the class may run longer than the schedule time. (Please let me know at the beginning of class if you have time constraints.) I will demonstrate and help each of you with your molds. Students will prepare there glass by washing it and loading there molds with glass. It may be wise to load your mold once it is situated in the kiln. I will be discussing the firing schedule in class as well.

Update - October 4, 2007 Images from project1
For this project we ended up using spectrum96 nuggets. Some students crushed the nuggets into frit using an old rusty crusher which resulted in there works having small contaminates of steel particles. Students who washed the frit did better. In the future care should be taken to use a crusher, which is cleaner. The crusher should have been sand blasted. The students who used the straight nuggets had little to no contamination. The resulting castings had a few small air bubbles. Please review pictures at above link.

Here is the firing schedule we used.