Thesis

This work is named after the Greek Goddess of creation, and was so named because of the emerging sphere, and the particularly painful creative process experienced in making this piece. This work is 16x16x16 and weighs in at 34 lbs.

Thesis is composed of the following elements:

Metal Marble - Metal Marbles are discussed in About Metal Marbles.

 Iridescent Glass - The other ring of Thesis is composed of crushed iridescent glass that was used as the raw material for casting the solid two inch thick ring. There is a cast ring on the top and on the bottom of Thesis. Iridescent glass as defined by the Spectrum Glass company: "A surface treatment in which a layer of metallic oxide is bonded to the hot glass surface just after sheet-forming, resulting in a colorful, shimmering effect." The iridized glass, as is all of the glass for Thesis, if from the Bullseye glass company. Again, the integration of metal and glass used to create the iridescent glass was important for the overall theme of this series.

 Lath Turned Wood - The black body of the sculpture is composed of two turned pieces of wood which hold the cast glass rings in place. The wood was tuned, texturized and sent out for copper plating. It was then patinaed and sealed.

Cast Glass Cone - The solid glass cone with an emerging sphere is symbolic of birth. A metal marble was created then dipped multiple times into a crucible of molten glass. The cone shape was roughed out on a marver, then placed into a prepared mold to finalize the casting by the addition of black glass. Since I do not operate a furnace and a large glory hole an object of this size had to be finished via casting instead of just employing off-hand glass techniques as a glass worker would do.