Compiled by: Jim Yount
Posted: May 16, 20002
Revised: April 04, 2005
Photographs: Tom Eddleman, Javier Obeso, Jim Yount
Video tape to be produced by Bob Pickard, available to all e group participants. Contact Bob for availability.
General description of the event, including hyperlinks to the papers presented
2003 Advanced Workshop considerations
Some thoughts about holding a similar event next year. Comments would be welcomed.
About 25 thumbnails/photos showing some of the art we saw at Shawnee.
About 25 thumbnails/photos of the people who were there. Ever wonder what Tom Eddleman looks like? Here's your chance!
The workshop began at 9AM on Friday, April 26 2002 at Bob Pickard's facility in historic Shawnee, Oklahoma. Attendees included: Beccy Garvin, Sara Urband-Murphy, Charles Grage, Bob Pickard, Javier Obeso, Tom and Martha Eddleman, Lon Weekly, Jeff Binion, Fred Self, Dick Mullennex, and Jim Yount. The plan was to have each of us present articles on some aspect of sand carving, as time permitted.
The following are roughly in order of presentation.
Click on the Underlined titles to go to the articles written by the presenter.
Click on thumbnails for an enlarged photo.
We've all used Elmer's glue to act as a liquid resist. Bob has found a better material, and its uses will surprise you. Using his techniques, almost any texture can be created by a sandcarver. Besides, it's fun! Click on the link above to read his paper.
Textures using rubber stamps - Javier Obeso.
During Bob's presentation, Javier showed us how to use rubber stamps to create
repeating patterns. You'll have to use your imagination here, we didn't
get any photos. Javier does good work, and is justifiably proud of his
art.
Gold Leafing - Fred Self
Fred is truly a master craftsman in all aspects of sign painting and sculpture. He demonstrated three different techniques in gold leafing. Fred's methods would fill a book; rather than write an article, he's given us the title to the gold leafing book he recommends:
Gold Leaf Technique 3rd edition, 1986. LeBlanc/Smith/Sarti ST Publications, Cincinnati, Ohio
Jim presented a paper on fine lines using photoresist. He consistently works at 0.20 point (0.003 inch) line weight. There was much discussion on constructing edge lit bases using LEDs, and on photographing glass.
Film comparisons
Tom and Jim jointly described work they have been doing to compare film positive versus laser versus inkjet film quality (Jim), and separately, comparisons between different brands of inkjet films (Tom). The resulting test pieces have been photographed using an Intel microscope, and those photos are included in the following articles. If the images are slow loading, press "refresh" on your browser.
Film Positives, Laser and Inkjet film comparisons - Jim Yount
Inkjet film comparisons - Tom Eddleman
Blasting glass through and through - Tom Eddleman
Tom showed us his beautiful Dreamcatcher, fine art glass carved through. He describes his methods in his paper.
Sandcarved Glass and Kiln Work - Sara Urband-Murphy
Sara discussed slumping carved glass, and carving fused glass. She also "did her homework" by fusing the four color glass blank that Bob carved, revealing different colors at different depths. See more of Sara's work on the link above.
Confused? Just enlarge the photo at left, and you'll see how Bob "colored" the piece by controlling his depth of blasting.
Artwork Stencil Methods -
Beccy Garvin
Beccy showed us the different methods she uses to go from art to stencil. See her stuff in the Photo gallery - art
Increasing Illumination of Edge-Lit
Carved Glass or Mirror - Lon Weekly
Lon uses tape on the edges of glass to help through the light back into the images. He's experienced some impressive gains in brightness in displaying his pieces.
Cutting Bottles - Bob Pickard
Bob demonstrated thermal shock methods for cleanly cutting glass bottles. Bob first scores the bottle by holding the cutter horizontally on a block, then rotates the bottle smoothly to achieve a consistent cut. He then uses an ice bath and boiling water bath to fracture the glass. No pictures here, but Bob promises that it will be on the videotape.
(hold for Raster to Vector Conversion input from Charles Grage)
(hold for input from Jeff Binion)
The 2002 workshop was notable for what it did NOT contain: classroom instruction on how to prepare resist and blast glass. Once sandcarvers are beyond these basics and are blasting at some level, then a workshop environment works really well, with each of us learning from the others. An annual event, hosted by PAB in Shawnee, seems like something that could advance the art, and help individual carvers.
With that in mind, we had a brief general discussion late Sunday morning about the next event, to be held April 2003 in Shawnee. All of this is very preliminary, however some of the core thoughts were:
First, use time as efficiently as possible. Post attendees, subjects, details on the internet, well in advance of the workshop, to encourage others to attend. Instead of requiring papers up front (this probably scared a few folks off), ask each person to briefly summarize the information they will bring to share, and what they would like to learn when they confirm.
Then, consider dividing up the days into "sessions" based on subjects submitted by the attendees. This should fall into logical groups, and might suggest topic areas for those who are uncertain about what to present. For example, we could do a half day on half toning, with several folks presenting lessons learned, challenges. Each person could tailor their subject to complement the others' work. The session teams would then identify the resources they need to Bob, who would help gather local supplies and equipment.
Fred's presentation on gilding was very interesting; consider adding other topics (e.g. fused/slumped glass) to expand our view of the craft.
Consider two-tier pricing, with reduced prices for those who commit to bringing information to share.
Extend the length a day or so, if there is interest. For many of us, getting to Oklahoma is most of the battle; adding a day would be worthwhile, depending on the subjects covered.
Comments on the next workshop? E mail publisher@sandcarver.org and it will be added to this discussion page.
