While taking a slumped-glass class at the Azalea Rec Center, needing to paint a round piece of glass, and using the tools available, I gently placed the glass on a pottery wheel and began to slowly rotate it. I applied a paintbrush to my new “canvas” as it rotated, just quick dabs of various colored paints. Not bad. ( not too good either…but what the heck, it was only my first class).
I had a week to think about my next class. For which, I brought several pieces of my own glass, already shaped and scalloped. It was time to have some fun, and experiment, trying different color paints, glass shapes, layering and sandwiching techniques, edging techniques. I felt as if I was on to something…so did the teacher. She was very encouraging.
After the slumped-glass course ended I figured I might be able to take what I had learned there, combined with my prior experience with glass sculptures and create something completely different…something unique.
I also knew about something called “reverse-painting” on glass. In fact, one of the few things that I have ever “inherited” was a reverse painting on glass which had hung on the wall of my boyhood home. It was passed down to me and still hangs on a wall in my house to this day.
So, I figured if I could combine spin art and reverse painting on glass I might be on to something. It’s 2000, and now the work begins. At least, I have a work bench and some glass cutting tools, but now I have to figure out what kind of glass to use, what kind of paint to use, how to actually spin glass…and once done, how to display it. There’s a lot of work ahead.
