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INFLATIONS

2023-2024

Steel, Paint, Wood

This series explores the surprising softness achievable in steel through heat and air. While studying blacksmithing at Penland School of Craft I learned the steel inflation technique pioneered there by Elizabeth Brim. Her approach reshapes a traditionally rigid material into voluminous, almost fabric-like forms, pushing the boundaries of blacksmithing.

This process bridges my glass, metal, and jewellery background, creating hybridity between studios. The forms are first cut to shape in the metal shop, with seams welded using an oxyacetylene torch. They continue in the glass hot shop, where the glory hole acts as a forge, providing the necessary heat to inflate the steel.

This series represents my initial explorations of the technique, using form and pliability to push the material's possibilities. Silhouettes, still-life references, and shell-like spirals play with perception, volume, strength and softness, form, and function.
 

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