During Lockdown I was able to attend an online glass Masterclass arranged by Warm Glass with tutor and glass artist Claire Hall to learn the techniques to create Sunset and Seascape Pendants.
Over the last month or so, I have been creating samples for these pendants using many different colours and styles of glass to achieve a variety of different seascapes and sunsets. I may have just snaffled a few photographs from some of your holiday snaps on social media for inspiration. Isn't it incredible the variety of colours, reflections and refractions that nature presents us with?
My sampling has not just been to look at results from different laying of glass but also included experimenting further to exploit the elements in different glass to cause a reaction. For instance some blues and greens contains copper which reacts with some yellows and reds containing sulphur. Or the glass containing sulphur reacts with some pinks/purples and whites containing lead. Each reaction has a slightly different result. You may notice on some of the seascapes I've tried to utilise the reactions to create horizon lines!
Where a glass is iridised the reaction can often have a crackling effect and I've tried to capture this reaction in the 'water' to give it some movement or where there's no 'reaction' to create a subtle shimmer that catches light from different angles.
Each pendant has between 14-18 pieces of cut glass, positioned and layered to produce different effects, an impression of distance, a shimmer, reaction and of course colouring. There are three firings involved for each of the seascape pendants (two for the sunset pendants) and both types require me to saw off the excess glass, grind the edges and then to cold work each pendant to achieve the final results you see here.
The pendants are then finished with a silver bails through which you can thread your chain/thong. (I've even learnt a new skill to silversmith the tubetop bails you will see on some of the pendants!).
Each pendant is sold in it's own presentation gift box ready to be gifted to someone else or a deserving gift to yourself!
I have enjoyed learning new processes and techniques to create these pendants and hope you love them as much as I do.