Reflections on a collaborative research project in digital moulding for glass casting and artistic interpretations

The research reported was initiated in early 2010 to explore ways of combining my specialist knowledge of kiln-formed glass with Jorgensen’s understanding of digital fabrication technology. This two-part paper describes pioneering research that established a new method for creating glass moulds directly from 3D CAD files without needing physical patterns. This method has a number of unique advantages over conventional glass casting techniques including: safer and more accurate casting, ease of transition between virtual files to glass artefact, economies in mould production and firing schedules. There is potential to adapt the method for applications outside of the glass arena. Proof of concept has been established by the successful production of a series of test pieces and the project has received significant sponsorship amounting to £20,000 from Gaffer Glass (NZ) and ZCorporation (US), an industry leading company in 3D printing. This co-authored research paper was peer reviewed and disseminated as part of ‘Making Futures III,’ an international conference organised by Plymouth College of Art at Mount Edgecumbe. The paper also described creative applications of our Rapid Tooling glass investment moulding alongside other CADCAM processes like 3D scanning, providing a reflective case study illustrating how this new form of casting can extend artistic practice. The resulting artefact, ‘Sinew’ was shown in four exhibitions and the processes documented in two books. Research was disseminated at the ‘Towards a New Ceramic Future’ symposium at the V & A, London in January 2012, the ‘Glass Boston’ conference at MIT in June 2013 and ‘Crafting the Future,’ the 10th European Academy of Design (EAD) conference (Gothenberg, 2013)