Untitled

Through the warm glass process and extensive research, I have collated my findings into a final piece that presents my imagery in a way that communicates my concept effectively.
This visual interpretation of the urbanisation within my hometown, Twickenham (London, UK), demonstrates the process of screen-printing enamels and experimentation in the use of decals, composition, layering of glass and the temperature of firings. The overall form of the piece reflects the structure of a crane, tying in the silhouette of the glass with the surface design.
Growing up in Southwest London, I have experienced the gradual building up of the town around me as London expands. This work encompasses the visual of older architectural structures in my town being overtaken by modern builds and construction sites. The imagery was taken around my local area and adapted and composed for screen printing. I have displayed the architecture in a slightly distorted way, screen printing enamels using a larger mesh size and conveying age with the grainier look. The cranes were printed with a finer mesh screen, bolder colours and printed on a pane of glass in front of the lighter coloured, faded buildings. I chose to use two 10mm thick sheets of window glass as I was aesthetically drawn to the green tint to the glass as well as window glass’ stiffer molecular makeup. This allows it to undergo more firings and not distort at the temperatures required to fire on the enamels. Through my testing I was able to find a middle ground in terms of firing temperature. The use of two layers rather than one or many more layers brought the perfect balance of depth in the design. The thicker glass allowed for distance between the layers without the distortion that adding more thinner layers would. Having designs on multiple, thinner layers blurred the imagery too much and took away from the intricacy of the screen-printed designs.
I welded the base for the glass with steel to add to the theme of construction, carrying through the overall architectural shape of the form.