Artist Finder
Serena Smith
Description:
Each piece starts out with a figure carved and shaped from wax. The wax figure is encased in a mold made from layers of plaster, silica, and other materials. Once the mold has set the wax is melted out from the plaster leaving a cavity. This process means that each piece is unique. When the wax melts the original sculpture is destroyed.
The mold is placed into a kiln and fired to about 1450 degrees in order to melt the glass which flows into and fills the cavity left by the wax. Some pieces also have copper fused on the surface or inside the glass during this process.
Once the piece cools down (this can take a week or more depending on the size of the figure) it is taken out of the kiln and the plaster is broken off the glass. The glass is then cleaned, "cold worked," and sand blasted to finish the surface.
