“Cascading Leaves” (Dry Plaster Casting)

Single glass panel (20” x 20”) mounted in bedroom skylight.

I use the Dry Plaster Relief Casting technique in my work (also known as Deep Relief Casting or Bas-Relief). This type of casting creates very detailed 3-dimensional raised images into the glass through a kiln-forming process.  Deep sculptural images can be faithfully recreated by pressing an original object into the sifted dry powder contained in a dam created by refractory board or ceramic pieces (see picture).   2 x 1/8 inch thick pieces of glass (float or Bullseye) are cut and stacked on top of the powder, resting on the dam.  During the ramp up heating process, the soft powder becomes a solid and the glass slumps into the negative space.  Using only dry powder, minute detail is recorded when items are pressed into the finely sifted bed; details as fine as fingerprints translate into the glass.  All works are unique, as the plaster returns to a powder form as it cools down, and the mold created for the glass is destroyed upon removal of the glass panel.

To create the impressions of various leaves on my panels, I used life-like rubber leaf molds ordered from a supplier of pottery and clay making materials. Embedded air bubbles are an inherent characteristic of this technique and are formed by trapped air between the 2 pieces of glass.

• Float Glass