BUILDING A CAREER

When I look back at photographs of all the glassware that I have made over the years one thing struct me. I have made quite a few glass models of buildings. Closer examination of my photographic archives reveals of these buildings the majority appear to be churches. Most are meant to represent real churches whereas one sculpture is made up of small glass figures arranged to resemble a church. I called that “The Church of the People”. Sold it eventually, it did take a couple of years. All other buildings that I have made of glass have been commissions.

Churches usually are straight forward to make except where there are walls and roofs which aren’t square. Since a lot of churches are old then this will apply to most churches. I live in the centre of my town, Thurso, very close to the West Church so it may seem appropriate that I have made a few models of this church in glass. The church in the centre of Thurso called St Peters is rather more problematic in that it has lots of spires and it was very fiddly to make. Thanks fully I have only been asked once to make that building. Another church I did enjoy making since it consisted of four walls and a tower. This was the church at Dunnet and was for a presentational event. Received some good publicity but not more orders for churches.

Of all the buildings I have made then the Dounreay Fast Reactor is probably the most popular. Its an iconic image of a sphere with two buildings either side which are rectangular and a chimney on top of the building on the right. Many have been made for staff retiring or leaving Dounreay. Having worked there for over thirty-five years I got to know the building well and have been inside a few times. Part of the buildings at the side do not exist now but I include them in my glass models since it seems more balanced with buildings either side of the sphere or dome as some may call it. I have made the DFRR in solid glass and also hollow glass. The latter allows me to increase the final size and one hollow DFR I turned into an egg timer as I filled it with sand.

The design of the DFR lends itself to a tricky technique where I fuse a spherical surface with a square surface. With the glass at temperatures nearly a thousand degrees centigrade then one false move could spell disaster. Thankfully over the years I seem to have perfected this skill, but I am always nervous which I reach this stage in the creative process.

Nerves are good I think as it keeps one on their toes. Making buildings from glass demands an observational eye and I usually as for several photos. Once or twice, I have visited a building to sketch out important details. Trouble is when I get back to my workshop with said drawings then I can’t read the scribblings as my drawings are sooooooooooo bad!!!

I have only done one shop front and that was a shoe shop in Thurso’s main high street. The shop has long gone which for all high streets is a familiar story. When making the glass shop, I used old photographs which was fine except I didn’t realise there was some modernisation carried out which I had omitted. I do fall into the trap that I think I can improve the look of a building when I am creating the glass version. This of course is a big no no.

Many years ago, when I was doing a glassblowing demonstration for a school, I asked the audience of children what they wanted me to make, and they all asked for a glass school. This I thought would be easy but then I realised they wanted a full-size glass school!