Madeleine Hughes
Glass Maker
CORNUCOPIA
After successfully making the small and large versions of Cornucopia for a little while, I decided it was time to create an extra large version. With the generous help of Alister Malcolm, we were able to blow this beast of a piece of glass art.
Once it had been blown, the most challenging part came: cutting the lenses over the external surface of the piece. For this, I have to hold the entire weight of the piece up to a diamond wheel that is spinning on a lathe, to carve each lense individually. As you can imagine, it took quite some time!
For me personally, this is the most impressive and beautiful piece I have created so far and I am rather proud of it. Due to the (quite uncomfortable at times) labour that is required to make this piece, I am not sure that I will make another... however I may be able to be persuaded!
These pieces were initially inspired by kaleidoscopic imagery, geometric patterns and fractals. My fascination with repetition has led to involve labour-intensive processes in my work.
Glass, in its’ transparent form, has a special relationship with light. Layering the primary colours of light - pink(magenta), yellow and blue(cyan), allows new colours (orange, green and purple) to form, creating a piece that has elements of pattern change, just like those seen when looking through a kaleidoscope.
