By the Contemporary Glass Society, hosted by the Makers Guild Wales
On Saturday 28th of May 2022, there was a meeting down Cardiff Bay (which is normally quite busy on a weekend anyway) of... supersonic Porsches.
In contrast to the roars of these supercars outside however, there was another, much quieter meeting indoors. See the clothes hanging on the line to the right? Well, they are in fact made of glass.
These were a part of the incredible glassworks exhibition in Cardiff Bay's Craft studio, conducted by the Contemporary Glass Society and hosted by the Makers Guild Wales.
Unfortunately glassworkers often have little representation in the world of art publications, so, being based in Cardiff myself, I was keen to get down there and find out what they were all about.
The Glass Society did a fantastic job at informing everyone who was there, from amateurs, glass aficionados and just people who were interested, about exactly how each piece of glass on display had been intricately made. Yet, whilst we may think of there just being a generic way that glass is made, there is in fact a great number of means by which it can be created - and, if you're skilled enough, you can give each work 'it's own personality'.
From glassblowing and sandblasting to layering and wax, there is an enormity of ways in which these artists perfect their glasswork. One way is even known as 'sausage rolling'.
Sausage rolling was one of the ways that the glassworkers had created their designs; by rolling up the glass while it's being made, cutting the various segments and then fusing those pieces back together again to create various patterns.
'Glass is an incredibly diverse medium'
As one of the speakers is keen to point out, 'glass is an incredibly diverse medium' and particularly when it comes to density; take a look at those 'dream catchers' for instance. One piece was so thin, which was created using glass powder, that it created a 'paper effect' with writing on!
Nature too, can also be used in glasswork. One exhibitor had used seaweed, for example, to create the mould imprints in their work. I was even told that one creator the glassworkers know of, has created glass infused with burnt honey sugar and is now experimenting with hot sauce!
What was even more surprising and what was somewhat of an oxymoron, is that a stone had also been used in one of the designs ... see the 'saw in the stone' there below for instance?
The world of glass was and still is, totally new to me and there was unfortunately no way I could include all the exciting stuff that came from the lectures into the magazine...
but luckily a few of the artists have agreed to feature in the up-and-coming editions, one being Bethan Yates, who is set to feature in Edition V - so make sure to stay tuned!
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