Sculpting glass coral using a glass hand torch can produce very complex forms. I am currently working on a Favia Brain Coral. This species of brain coral is very popular with coral farmers. There are amazing colors and patterns found in this type of coral. I was drawn to the amazing cell structure of this coral. Up to this point I have worked on fan coral and meander brain coral patterns. This cell pattern has taken me into a new realm!
Emily working on a small glass brain coral sculpture
Sculpting Glass Coral Cells
The first step in developing this type of glass coral begins with making glass cells from boro rod. When sculpting glass coral each glass cell is shaped and attached to an inner glass support system. By floating the rings I was able to make lots of small curves and changes to each ring. This made it possible to shape the dome form before fusing it together. After the glass cells are fused together I remove the inner supports. This was key to making a very round looking coral form!
Exploring Coral Patterns
What has drawn me to the Favia brain coral was the stunning patterns. The challenge was found in how to develop the pattern using drawn glass lines. Each cell has a concentric pattern pointing toward the mouth. The brain coral shown above shows the coral in an “open” state. This means the coral is having dinner! It grabs small bits of food floating in the water using the small tentacles. The swaying tendrils is what excites me about sculpting glass coral.
Glass Video Demos
Recently I created a special glass video page for my website. This enables me to share my glass working demos with guests to my site. You can view a number of epic glass sculptures in the making such as the Glass Seaweed sculpture or the more recent Brain Coral. You may enjoy reading Glass Reef, Hidden Worlds an in depth page about this series of glass marine life forms.
