April Wagner's flower sculptures embody the feminine side of her work. The inspiration for these whimsical and colorful flowers is drawn from her love of nature. Each flower is created from handblown glass and results in a totally unique sculpture. Keep reading to see how these beautiful glass flowers are created!
More info: epiphanyglass.com
This is just one of the many flower sculptures created by April Wagner. This Blue and Purple Flower has an interesting juxtaposition between the solid purple interior of the petals and the exterior, which is a light blue with splotches of red and a darker blue.
To start a flower sculpture, a gather of clear glass is taken. The pipe chiller cools down the temperature of the blowpipe to make it more manageable to hold. The glass is dipped in powered frit to give it an overall color, and then dipped in various colors of larger frit to give splotches of color. In between adding colors, it is taken to the reheating chamber to keep it at a working temperature.
The glass is taken over to the bench and air is blown through the blowpipe to expand the sphere. Jacks are used to create a constriction, which helps to direct the air bubble. A bit of clear glass is brought over and added to the bottom of the piece in lines to create texture.
The straps of the jacks are used to help shape the sphere and air is used to further inflate the sphere.
A punty is attached to the bottom with a bit of glass and it is knocked off the blowpipe so the top of the piece can be worked. Once the piece has been flipped, jacks are inserted into the opening left from the pipe and used to expand the top. When glass is put in the reheating chamber, the top will be the furthest in the heat, therefore, making it the hottest. A torch is used to superheat the parts that receive less heat.
Now that the torch has been used to superheat the colder parts of the glass, shears can be used to create cuts that will be made into flower petals.
A torch is again used to heat the cooler parts of the glass so the petals can be reworked. Whenever the glass is put in the reheating chamber to be heated, it is called a flash. You can see the flower receive a flash at the end of this clip.
A metal rod and tweezers are used to help shape and finesse the individual petals of the flower. Flashes are taken to keep the glass at a workable temperature.
After a final bit of tweaking, the flower is taken to the knock off table and knocked off the punty. A torch is used to melt the pontil mark and the flower is placed in the annealer to cool down slowly over the course of 12 hours.
Here's one of the finished flowers! You can see more of these lovely sculptures on our website! Hope you enjoyed seeing how they're made!
