108 Hands Touching Life is my latest project focus. It's beginning was born out of an opportunity to study at the world renoun Pilchuck Glass School, in Stanwood, WA. When I returned home, I was so inspired to begin developing a vision that would incorporate various poses of life-size kiln-cast glass hands with Raku ceramic elements, resulting in an exhibition offering 108 hands expressing gentle human experiences. This Work In Progress section is an overview opportunity for you to take a peek at the ins and outs of my current artistic journey.

To begin building the bridge between kiln-cast glass and Raku ceramics, all I needed (I thought) was clay, glazes, a propane Raku kiln with reduction bins for the Raku elements, plus an electronically controlled kiln, casting glass, plaster molds, molding alginate and casting wax for the glass hands, and of course the backbone to any project, the journal to keep sketches, firing schedules, materials used, etc. - everything documented and organized.

Ten months later, the Raku kiln (top right) has been designed, successfully installed, and is in full operation on our back patio. Traces of wax can now be found on the front porch, and bins of mold making materials are competing for space in my small studio. We have lift-off. On to the next phase of this new endeavor.

Because glass and clay expands and contracts in the kilns at very different rates, they can not be successfully fired together, so starting with the end in mind is unavoidable. Both materials must fit together perfectly for the finished piece to be a success. To do that, the Raku element is always where each piece must begin. Here I am (right) moving a Raku fired horse to its reduction bin (below left), where it ignites the oxygen thirsty paper. The lid is quickly placed on the bin and then after the fire and smoke subsides, and the horse becomes cool enough to touch (below right), it is then scrubbed clean with soap and water.

Pulling a piece out of an 1800 degree kiln is as dangerous at it looks so I welcome the protection of the safety equipment. During this firing, a rather large section of the horse's ceramic underside popped off and that made slowly picking it up a tricky challenge. I've had great success with my firings nearly all the time, but it's impossible to know when the next unstable piece will suddenly be flying in my direction. It really doesn't take any more time to work safely and it goes without saying, "Better safe than sorry."

Next step is making the element that will be transformed into a piece of kiln-cast glass. There are several ways to go about creating these glass pieces. Since I'm aiming for realistic hands, I started by making a casting of my own hand with an alginate compound and plaster. That sounds simple enough but I have come to appreciate that the creative process usually has a mind of its own.

Problem #1 - When my left hand is in the alginate, I only have one hand left to work the material. Another set of helping hands are priceless on form-casting day.

Problem #2 - Poses have to factor in gravity. The air has to go somewhere when the plaster is poured into the alginate mold. If there are any floating up-turned finger tips, there will eventually be trapped air bubbles, which will lead to voids in the plaster (the finger tips) - and eventually the wax.

Once the alginate casting mix is set and my hand is retrieved out of the alginate's grasp, a plaster mixture is poured into the void. I will gently swish the plaster around and tap on the outside of the mold form to release as much air as possible. Then it is supported and left untouched for about an hour while the plaster sets up and cures. When the plaster has finished curing, the alginate form is peeled away (top right), exposing the perfectly detailed casting.

After the plaster hands have been extracted from the alginate mix, and all the imperfections have been corrected, it's time to start making "mother molds." These are molds that are used when more than one wax image will be made from an original casting - in my case, the same plaster hand. They often consist of an inner mold, that is made of silicone (2nd from top), and an outer mold, that is made of plaster. Here is an image (3rd from top) showing the different sections and parts. Last is the assembled 4-part mother mold with the inner silicone form in place.

Wax is melted very slowly to about 200 degrees. Because wax is highly flammable, it is melted in a double-boiler fashion, i.e. it's melted in a pan that is floating in water. I have created this double boiler effect by using an electric skillet to heat the water and another smaller metal loaf pan to hold the wax as it melts. When the wax is ready, it is poured into the silicone and plaster mother mold (top,right) and left to cool completely before removing it from the molds. If all goes well (middle,right), I will end up with a casting like this wax hand.

It's now ready to be finely finished before it has its "kiln-casting" or "waste" mold is applied and the wax image is melted away leaving a cavity for the melted glass to fill. The filled mold will go into the electronically controlled kiln to be fired and annealed for roughly 60 hours before the glass melting and annealing process is finished .... and I will be able to remove the waste mold to take my first peek at the cast-glass results.

As the mold is removed, casting "flashes" become obvious very quickly as well. All glass finishing is very time consuming and each flaw will need to be addressed with wet grinding and sanding before moving on to the final finishing steps, joining the ceramic and glass elements snuggly together.

"Tropical Currents" (right) is one of my most pleasing attempts to merge kiln-cast glass and ceramics together successfully. It has a Raku fired ceramice element set into a clear glass casted base. Because this base is a one-of-a-kind, making a mother mold was not necessary. I was able to make the waste mold directly off of a clay form (below)and not wax - a wonderful shortcut, if it works out right.

As I progress, pictures of these steps will be added to this page. Tips, comments and questions are all welcome from any of you who are interested in this process.