Combustion - Heat - Mindfull Concentration
- Manifestation
I believe that borosilicate glass is
the perfect creative medium for me.
Flameworking boro requires constant
attention and mindfullness of the process. When working with glass
you have to be in that one space during every moment only doing
one thing. A lack of constant mindfullness of the process and
of one's surroundings can be catastrophic for the work and painful
for the body.
The process requires great motor skills
and a keen sense of timing. Working with glass is an excercise
of the mind, body, and spirit. The mind must be open to what ever
may come. What manifests is sometime unexpeted and comes when
it may. There are no rules to creating. The body must be able
to with stand the hours of intense heat and being in in place
doing one thing. Often times a piece can take mulitple hours to
create. The best results come when the process is seen through
from beginning to end in one session. The spirit must be flexible
and open to what may come. The process of manifesting a new creation
can be unexpected and follow a course previously unseen. There
is no right or wrong. No up or down. It is all an illusion. It
is all solid and real in every moment. It is through the physical
act of creating that we all live on indefinately.
The Glass
Borosilicate glass is a particular
type of glass, better known under the brand names Pyrex and Kimax.
It was first developed by German glassmaker Otto Schott in the
late 19th century and sold under the brand name "Duran"
in 1893. After Corning Glass Works developed Pyrex in 1924, it
became a synonym for borosilicate glass in the English-speaking
world.
Borosilicate glass is the oldest type
of glass to have appreciable resistance to thermal impact and
higher temperatures, also has excellent resistance to chemical
attack. In this glass structure, the first to carry the Pyrex
trademark, some of the SiO² is replaced by boric oxide.
Borosilicate glass has a low coefficient
of thermal expansion and is, thus, suited for telescope mirrors
and other precision parts. Also, because this glass can withstand
thermal shock, it is used for oven and laboratory ware, headlamp
lenses, and boiler gage glasses. Most borosilicate glasses have
better resistance to acids than do soda-lime glasses, but poor
resistance to alkalis. Glass fibers used in reinforcing plastic
compounds are a modified borosilicate glass.
The
Fuming