Graphics

[Lauri Levanto]

I like drawing. It is not simple when fusing.
I have made few tests with a graphic method.

The image is carved on a plaster plate.
The grooves are filled with glass powder.

Susan was the first one, It was frit casted. Very good resolution, not enpugh saturation.

In the self portrait "Dirty Old Man" I used black liquid stringer.

Nerd Girl was a combination. Fine powder and tekta.

In the last two pieces I have approached Ferdinannd Leger's way to separate line and color.

I hope these can give inspiration to some artist like Raphael or Carol Carson.

-lauri

P.s. sorry the pictures are not in the order of the text

[Lauri Levanto]

The Susan ihas only blue. The background colors are atifacts I could not photoshop away.

[carol carson]

I like the dirty old man, well done.

Raf and I work very differently. He uses and airbrush and colored glass I believe, I don't. His work is quite amazing.
I draw with Glassline and color with powders and frits.
I like what you're doing, the technique sounds interesting.

[Lauri Levanto]

That was my point Carol,
to share the technique with someone who can do art with it.
What is gGassline? Is it some kind of liquid stringer?

The plaster plate I cast against an waxed window glass to get a good surface.
Carving is with any sharp object. Dental picks are excellent.
The groove is best filled with powder.Some medium is necessary to pack the powder dense enough.
A sheet glass does not pick the color well. I sprinkle a thin layer of clear
fine frit in between. When it beads up before fusing to the plate, it picks the darker powder well.
The prints are one of a kind. It is very difficult to keep the fired plate intact.
-lauri

[carol carson]

http://www.sundanceglass.com/glassline- ... fusing.htm

You can buy them from most stained glass, or art glass suppliers I believe.

[Dairy Queen]

Why are these photos appropriate for techniques, but mine are not?

Brad Walker's expressed reason for moving my technique photos applies to this thread, as well:

Because the Photos and Stuff folder is where you share photos of your work. If this had been a photo of a novel technique or something really different and innovative, I might have left it in the technique folder. But even then the Technique and Tools forum is more for asking questions about techniques and tools, while the Photos forum is where you share photos of pieces you've made or processes you want to share.
Brad Walker
Site Admin

Posts: 2158
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2003 8:33 pm
Location: North Carolina, USA

[The Hobbyist]

Why are these photos appropriate for techniques, but mine are not?

Brad Walker's expressed reason for moving my technique photos applies to this thread, as well:

Because the Photos and Stuff folder is where you share photos of your work. If this had been a photo of a novel technique or something really different and innovative, I might have left it in the technique folder. But even then the Technique and Tools forum is more for asking questions about techniques and tools, while the Photos forum is where you share photos of pieces you've made or processes you want to share.
Brad Walker
Site Admin

Posts: 2158
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2003 8:33 pm
Location: North Carolina, USA

In my short 10 years experience I have never seen nor heard of this method to produce an image in/on glass. So yes, in my estimation it is a new/novel technique and is in the appropriate forum.

Jim

[Morganica]

Why are these photos appropriate for techniques, but mine are not?

Brad Walker's expressed reason for moving my technique photos applies to this thread, as well:

Because the Photos and Stuff folder is where you share photos of your work. If this had been a photo of a novel technique or something really different and innovative, I might have left it in the technique folder. But even then the Technique and Tools forum is more for asking questions about techniques and tools, while the Photos forum is where you share photos of pieces you've made or processes you want to share.
Brad Walker
Site Admin

Because Lauri is describing genuine techniques that not everyone knows, providing details about how they were done and the basis for doing them in the first place. The pictures support the text in the post. The post you're referencing shows photos of what any beginning fuser will do almost instinctively--stack glass, put components between sheets, fire hot--and almost as quickly learns not to do because there are better ways to achieve the same end. The only "technique" provided, that you could have eliminated bubbles entirely by using a chad, is incorrect.

And BTW, interrupting someone else's thread to snipe about it is rude.

Putting that aside...Lauri--interesting ways to approach the problem. Wasn't "DirtyOld" one of your self-portraits?

I need to play around with your plaster carving technique. It very much reminds me of making an etching. I wonder if weighting down the sheet on the frit-filled plaster would soften the lines and exaggerate the painterly variances..? Be interesting to try, anyway.

[Peter Angel]

Lauri, how many firings for each piece?

[Lauri Levanto]

Susan and Dirty Old Man (self portrait) were essentially frit casting. So one firing.
Nerd Girl was also fired only once.. The color fields are on the opposite side of the sheet.

To Morganica's question. To soften a sheet so much that it pics the color from grooves takes time and temperature. It is much more reliable to use a layer of fine frit or powder under the sheet.

I tried one piece with dry powder without the intermediate frit. The result was very much like a charcoal drawing. That is a variation that needs further study.

Also the possibility to lay a color powder (with binder) on an uncarved sheet and the by carving get white lines on a colored background.

I really hope some artist pushes the limits of expression.
I am more a problem solver than an artist.

-lauri

[Stereoette]

Lauri -

Your technique is awesome. I am going to try it this week! It would certainly solve a problem that I've been trying to work out recently...

[Don Burt]

I have a question to Lauri and others regarding the problem of drawing on glass. Its a serious question: Why don't you paint? I use a brush and pen with glass paint. I don't feel any constraint from the medium to the capability to make expressive linear images. I'm not saying my images are great, but I'm not constrained. I read here about the struggles with drawing with larger frit, sifter tools, squeeze bottles, etc and just don't get why you don't get some glass paint, some medium, and some paintbrushes, and make the marks you like... Fernand Leger did, after all.

[Peter Angel]

I have a question to Lauri and others regarding the problem of drawing on glass. Its a serious question: Why don't you paint?

Don, some people - like myself - have a shakey hand.

Both the glass and the glass paint are so smooth and slippery thereby compounding the problem. It's not so much of a problem with decals, screen printing, sifting ,etc.

[Lauri Levanto]

The glass is slippery. it is much easier to paint on a surface that has some tooth.
On glass I make it y priming with 3M contact glue spray. Let it dry over night and you have surface that is more easy to paint.
-lauri

[Faye Malench]

Lauri, if I understand correctly, you are scratching/carving into plaster and then filling the grooves with powders to define the drawing? I assume you lay over a solid sheet once the drawing is established; or do you cover with coarser frits?

A number of years ago I purchased a quarter of sheetrock thinking I could do shallow carving. I do not draw or paint but planned to work in an abstract motif - similar to kiln-carving with paper except a raised design when complete. Is this the same concept?

[Haydo]

Lauri. I'm glad you shared this before I stole it and made it my own. peace, haydo

[frizzygirl]

I did a course locally on this method with Helen Slater who uses this method in her work.

It was back in February so my memory is a bit off but I think she mixes silica with the plaster when making the mold it should last several firings. We used black and coloured fine frits to fill the carving and then coarse frit on the top.

Interesting results but mixing the plaster was a pain.

http://www.helenslaterglass.co.uk/gallery_cont....html

Hope this helps

Tracey

[Lauri Levanto]

My limited experience is that it is hard to catch the drawing with a solid sheet.
First did I cast the sheet of frit. In the latest pieces, i have used a layer of fine frit under the sheet. That seems to pick the color of lines better.

[Lauri Levanto]

haydo,
that was the best compliment I ever got.

Just when you steal, steal like an artist.
-lauri

[Morganica]

I'm actually interested in the plasterdrawing bit not just as a painting medium, but also for the embossing effect--it's a way for me to achieve dimension, texture and color at the same time. Typically I cast the plaster over a clay positive, but drawing into a block of plaster would be a lot more satisfying on multiple levels.

I don't necessarily agree that you get the same thing as frit but easier with enamels/glass paint. Each of these techniques has its place, and delivers a slightly different look/feel. Frit can be incredibly painterly--Catharine Newell's powder work is more like watercolor on textured paper--it's just in knowing how (and practicing a lot) to manipulate the medium.

I can't get (or possibly I'm not skilled enough, and since I'm lousy at drawing I'll freely admit it) the effects with glass paint or crayon that I can with powders. I certainly can't get the textures I'm looking for, and for me that's a huge part of the work. Plus, combining multiple techniques--sheet, powder, frit, paint--gives the artist a lot of power. Look at Carol Carson's work, for example, or Alice Gebhardt's.