Designing a glass piece

Designing a dalle de verre glass piece of art starts like most things with a lot of ideas swirling in my head and then sorting out the design and sketching ideas. Working with dalle de verre glass offers the opportunity to use negative space in a meaningful way and I try to use the black negative space as a key part of the design process. Creating small details with glass and a chisel or hammer isn’t easy and most times not possible so I use negative space to accomplish some of that.

As the design progresses I create a cartoon of the piece and use that to select colors and texture that I want to achieve. I also do some research on the historical elements that may be relevant to the piece if its relevant to the design. I am currently working on a piece that is a stylized version of Odin the Norsk god and I’ve done a fair amount of reading about his likeness from a historical point of view and try to reflect that in the choice of colors and design.

Working with slab glass is challenging at times because different colors break and facet differently and at times it breaks in a way you had not planned. So theres a fair amount of creative decision making as you progress with finishing the design. I’ve broken more than one piece which I had spent a fair amount of time developing because I hit it just wrong when I was trying to fine tune it.

If you’d like to know more about the process let me know and I’ll be happy to share it with you. If you’re ever in the Peoria, Arizona area I would also welcome you to come by for a studio tour…just give me a heads up so I can clean up the glass shards!

Kokomo Opalescent Glass

I researched various methods of creating with glass and came across the Dalle de verre (glass slab) method which was developed in the 1930's in Paris by Jean Gaudin. The slabs of glass are typically about 8x12 inches and a little over an inch thick. They are shaped with a combination of diamond wet saws, and breaking with a hammer or glass cutter. The edges of the glass may be chipped or faceted to increase the refraction and reflection effects.

There are just a few glass providers in America, Kokomo Opalescent Glass is the primary maker, and they have been making glass for over 150 years. In 2016, I visited and took a tour of the entire process and that’s where I purchased by first glass, then I drove it home and began creating and Fisch Glass Works was born!

Thought you might like to see how Kokomo Opalescent Glass produces their Dalle de verre glass! The glass is hand ladled from the 12 pot furnace and poured or cast into these 8" x 12" forms on a pre-warmed graphite surface. Once they have firmed up they are placed into one of the kilns to anneal or cool down.

Here are some photos from their factory and also some spectacular finished pieces.