EnFUSEastic About Glass? Have a look at our Smashing new books

Jayne Persico presents-- glass kiln casting with colour de verre        

748.2028 PER

http://www.jpglassworks.com/

Jayne Persico brings her fresh and timeless style to the art of "Glass Kiln Casting". This inspirational yet thoroughly practical guide presents lush photographs of beautifully finished pieces that will capture the imagination. The clear and simple instructions will enable fusers of any skill level to achieve amazing 3-dimensional creations. "Glass Kiln Casting" is a book offering over 260 colour photographs in 12 chapters that will inspire dozens of exceptional projects. The opening chapter features invaluable information covering frit casting moulds, tools, equipment and kilns, plus an in-depth yet simple approach to working with digital kiln controllers. This book is sure to become a studio favourite that fusers of all levels will refer to time and again. Jayne's take-you-by-the-hand writing style guides crafters through the frit casting process. She'll show you how to make frit cast jewellery, plates and bowls with amazing results that will impress everyone who views your creations.

Lines Through Light            

748.092 PRO

Stephen Proctor  http://www.stephenprocter.net/gallery-glass/

Lines Through Light is a 153 page, hard cover, full colour publication that reveals the contemporary work and thinking of a master craftsman at the peak of his artistry. As an Observer interpreter and equilibrist, Stephen's writings and artworks deepen our awareness of the intricate order in nature and our wonder in the living world.

Melli Ink         

748.092 INK

https://www.melli-ink.com/

The Austrian artist Melli Ink (b. Innsbruck, 1972; lives and works in Zurich and Berlin) creates vitreous worlds that blend beauty and cruelty, dread and fragility in a seductive fusion. The works are based on extensive series of drawings and executed in close collaboration with glassblowers, whose traditional techniques Melli Ink reinterprets for contemporary art. They feature references to art history as well as film, music, and themes from folklore, distant echoes of the artist's Tyrolean roots. In earlier groups of works, Ink, who studied stage design at the Central Saint Martins College of ARt, London, closely examined Albrecht Durer's "Horsemen of the Apocalypse" or Erns Haeckel's "Art Forms in Nature." In recent years, she has also analyzed and interpreted the imaginaries of Hieronymus Bosch and Joan Miro. This monograph is the first to offer comprehensive insight into the highly expressive visual universe of Melli Ink's art. It also illustrates her playful engagement with various genres, including sculpture and installation art as well as drawing and performance. With an esasy by Christoph Doswald, a conversation between Thomas Kiesewetter and the artist, and a preface by Uta Grosenick.

Sea creatures in glass : the Blaschka marine animals at Harvard        

748.092 BLA

http://blaschkagallery.mannlib.cornell.edu/

Leopold Blaschka (27 May 1822 – 3 July 1895) and his son Rudolf Blaschka (17 June 1857 – 1 May 1939) were Dresden, Germany glass artists native to the Bohemian (Czech)–German borderland, known for the production of biological models such as the Glass Sea Creatures and their more famous successors the Glass Flowers.

Before Jacques Cousteau and the aqualung, before Kodachrome and underwater photography - there were the Blaschkas, father and son glassworkers who produced some of the most extraordinary glass objects that have ever been made. Their work has been described as "an artistic marvel in the field of science and a scientific marvel in the field of art."

Artifacts inevitably reflect the cultural values leading to their creation. In 19th century Europe and America, an explosion of interest in science and education directly affected Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka. Reflecting these interests, new museums were built and opened to the public. They differed from earlier museums not only by admitting the public but also by featuring collections that illustrated science and natural history and often displayed systematic arrangements of plants and animals.

Leopold Blaschka solved a problem that challenged the curators of these new natural history museums-the display of marine invertebrates. Unlike specimens with backbones, which could be stuffed and mounted, invertebrates had to be preserved in alcohol and inevitably lost their colors and shapes. Glass proved to be the ideal material to recreate these fragile forms.

Although the father and son team of Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka were not the only makers of natural history educational models in the 19th century, they were the only ones creating glass models. Other model makers used wax or papier maché, neither of which has the precision of detail or longevity found in glass. The two Blaschkas, descendents of a long line of Bohemian glassworkers, created their thousands of glass models without the assistance of others. Between 1863 and 1936, they supplied museums and universities all over the world with stunningly lifelike models of plants and animals. Their work culminated in the Ware Collection of Glass Plants at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, completed by Rudolf in the 1930s.

This book features exquisite new photography of a selection from the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology's exceptional collection of glass marine animals created by Leopold and Rudolph Blaschka

Published to celebrate Harvard University's new restoration and permanent display of these exquisite glass marine objects, still relevant to marine study today

First publication featuring any of the models from this exceptional collection, the second largest in the world

Delicate jellyfish and anemones, octopus, tentacled squid, and bizarre-looking soft-bodied sea creatures were meticulously recreated in glass by father and son artists Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka in the late nineteenth century. Renowned for their beauty and exacting detail, the Blaschka invertebrate models were commissioned by universities and museums throughout the world as teaching models for students of natural science and marine life. Illustrated here for the first time with breathtaking new photography are 60 of the most exquisite models from the exceptional collection of Harvard University's Museum of Comparative Zoology. Together with Harvard's famous Glass Flowers, a new exhibit of these restored glass animals now comprises the largest Blaschka collection on display in the world.  Bursting with intricate details and stunning photography, this elegantly designed book will be a must for all those interested in marine biology, the delicate art of glass craftsmanship, the history of science, and the quiet beauty of the natural world.

Tapio Wirkkala: a poet in glass and silver            

748.092 WIR

http://www.wirkkala.fi/e_wirkkala/tw_2.html

Tapio Veli Ilmari Wirkkala was a Finnish designer and sculptor, a major figure of post-war design. His work ranges from plastic ketchup bottles and metalware to glass, ceramics and plywood in a range of styles. He was a multitalented design genius, widely considered a leading figure of modern Finnish industrial art. Wirkkala's wide ranging portfolio spans from glass, furniture and product design to sculpture, city planning, art, graphics and even creating banknotes for the Finnish treasury. As his reputation grew internationally, Wirkala exhibited throughout the world but he was a recluse by nature. His favorite place was a spot so remote within the deep woodlands of middle Finland that helicopters delivered prototypes to his hut since no car could reach him. It was in nature that he found his much loved solitude and the inspiration for forms that industry could produce or artwork could create. Throughout his incredibly productive career, Wirkkala received numerous awards including three gold medals at the Milan Triennale, the Lunning Prize, Pro Finlandia Medal and the Prince Eugen Medal.

In 1946, Wirkkala won his first design award in a competition sponsored by Iittala that would mark a lifelong relationship with lasting effects on his career and the company. As Iittala’s artistic director, Wirkkala’s unique artistic vision helped establish the company’s global reputation. Throughout his legendary career, the uniquely talented artist created more than four hundred glass objects for Iittala, many of which, like the Ultima Thule and Tapio series remain popular today. 

This is the first comprehensive catalogue on Tapio Wirkkala in 15 years. In this lavishly illustrated publication Tapio Wirkkala's objects in glass and silver have been given the treatment they so richly merit. In his native Finland the designer is highly esteemed and has influenced many who have come after him. Beautiful pieces are juxtaposed with personal exhibition and workshop photographs, the whole completed with instructive sketches and essays presenting the way Tapio Wirkkala sets to work and how he chooses his materials. The upshot is luminously elegant utilitarian objects and delicate one-off pieces. The designer began to show work as long ago as the documenta III exhibition in 1964.

Glass art, 112 contemporary artists          

748.0922 PUR

More than 590 brilliantly detailed photos capture the work of 112 glass artists and show the tremendous diversity, depth, and breadth of how this ancient medium is used in the twenty-first century. New and emerging glass artists are featured together with some well-known experts, and all of them challenge the boundaries of familiar techniques. Many of these artists also teach or continue research into the capabilities of glass. Many have won major awards; still others have been the subject of media attention; and many are mentors and leaders of contemporary glass art. Their towering installations, miniscule insects, glass kimonos, and more will inspire everyone interested in appreciating, working with, or collecting glass.

Art and Craft Photography: How to Photograph Your Own Work. Pottery, Sculpture, Jewelery, Glass, Paintings       

778.935 GRI

This book tells you how to photograph your own work. “Art and craft photography” by Brian Griffiths is a “must have for any serious 3D and 2D professional artist. This book shows you how, in easily understandable language, to take amazingly professional images of your work; pottery, sculpture, jewellery, glass and paintings, you can produce studio quality pictures at home with no special equipment, just an ordinary digital camera and lamps from around the house. Suitable for complete beginners.
Top quality images are essential to sell, promote, and publicise your work, but employing a photographer is costly and time consuming. Learning how to do it yourself is surprisingly simple and easy. Brian is a professional photographer and runs many courses on photography for complete beginners to more advanced classes. In this book you will be guided through the basics from a to z: ; including choosing equipment, the best camera to use, camera settings, how to get the best out of your camera, exposure – how to get great shots every time, the studio set up, how to use ordinary lamps from around the house to light your work and take the photo, basic editing using Photoshop and how to use your image on the web, social media and print.