BLOG – 35 YEARS AGO BLOG 20

Over the last thirty-five years I have made many glass presentational sculptures. A lot of these glass pieces have been mounted on wooden bases since this appearance feels more important and thus more valuable.

I am indebted to a couple of woody people, Fred Haughton, and Peter Gee. Fred became known to me for making wooden rocking horses which he gladly carried upstairs at the Thurso Town Hall every week for craft fayres. I don’t remember him selling one at these events but that didn’t stop him trying and good on him. He made several bases for me as did Peter who was into wooden bowls, one of which I still use for posh buffets at home!

Using a wooden base to display glass really adds value to the overall effect. It promotes a humble glass item from an ornament to a conversation piece and earns its place in the hall of famous sculptural art.

Always, always I fix green baize on the base of the base (could be “bottom”). I used to glue real baize (as in snooker tabletops) onto the bottom of bases but realised I could get Fablon imitating the material at a fraction of the cost. I also moved on from “real” wood to imitation mahogany. This was in the form of trophy bases available from Malcolm Begg at Thrumster. The bonus for me was that Malcolm engraved brass (imitation) plaques to be glued (by self-adhesive strip) onto the wood.

My first reaction is always to fix any glass sculptures I make on glass and then engrave. Keeping things “in house” but I recognise that for some items the means of support can make all the difference so hence the use of wooden bases. Recently a customer wanted a slate base to match an existing piece of work they had in their home. I have drilled holes many times in glass using diamond hollow drills using a water feed, but my experience of drilling slate is limited. So big thanks to Lindsey Gallacher for doing this small but vital task.