JARED F. ROSENACKER

The pieces at Artworks represent a body of work I made the summer of 2018 during the span of just over 4 months. Originally 9 pieces were created, and only 5 survived. You’ll learn more about the reasons why down below. For the most part each piece is created in a two stage process working with the glass in both Hot and Cold form, with a more tedious and arduous time spent with the glass in the Cold Stage.

Hot Stage

Multiple glass colors are layered together. In order to achieve the appropriate color density, condensed color Bar Stock is used. Layering 3 or more colors in bar stock, which I did for my work, requires a “stuffed cup” technique (2 colors are layered, blown into a large rounded bottom cup placed in a 1000’F oven. Next another 1-2 layer colored bubble is blown into the previous cup. This technique also allows the placement of a significant layer of clear glass between the interior and exterior color layers). Once all the color is layered, the glass is blown up, but not too far, for it’s important to maintain thickness which is needed for the Cold Stage of the process. Breaking away from traditional shapes and forms, and too highlight a textured pattern, all the shapes I made were squeezed flat with hand paddles made out of cork. Upon completion of the hot blown shape, each piece needs to cool down slowly through a process called annealing. These thicker shapes take more time than usual to cool down, and require 24-48 hrs, from 900’F to 100’F. If this stage is rushed, the glass will most certainly break in the next stage.

Cold Stage

Once the blown blank is out of the oven, it is taken into the Cold Shop. Here, different grinding wheels, coated in industrial diamonds, are used to remove the glass to expose different layers of color as well as add texture. It’s important to let the wheels do the cutting, and not force too much pressure between the wheels and the glass, otherwise the piece, under too much stress, could crack and break. I must also be very careful not to grind further than I want through the different layers. One second too long on some cuts, and I could greatly alter the look of my design. Even more difficult is cutting all the way through the glass and exposing the interior (i.e. Emergence & Mantle). Upon completion of the cutting stage, each piece is sand blasted to achieve an even pixellated texture. The glass is then coated with a sealant to achieve a matte appearance, transforming the glass, and letting it appear to be something more of the natural world.