The Stem Vase

Made in a flame.

Borosilicate glass turned in a torch until it moves, then shaped by hand on the steel. One vessel at a time, no moulds.

£145Order one
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Three heights, three colours.

Each one is worked from a single rod, so the wall thickens and thins where the flame was. No two are the same height to the millimetre.

Finish
Height
Quantity
1
  • Made to order. Four weeks from the day you ask, because the kiln runs once a week.
  • Holds water. The base is thick enough to stand on its own with a single stem in it.
  • If it arrives broken we make another. Send a photograph, keep the pieces for the melt.
At the bench

One rod, one flame, one pair of hands.

The torch runs at about eight hundred degrees. Everything after that is timing.

In the flame
01In the flameThe rod turns constantly. Stop turning and the glass drops off the end.
Where it starts
02Where it startsSilica sand, melted with soda ash and lime long before it reaches the bench as rod stock.
Off the torch
03Off the torchOpened with a graphite paddle while it still glows, then straight into the kiln.
What it is made of

Sand, soda and a little copper.

Nothing is painted on afterwards. The colour is in the glass because it went into the melt.

Borosilicate rodThree millimetre wall. It takes the flame without cracking.
Silica sandWhere it starts, melted with soda ash and lime.
Copper oxideThe sea green. A pinch in the melt, never a coating on top.
Kiln brickThe annealer, held at five hundred degrees overnight.

How a vessel is made.

HeatThe rod goes into the flame and turns until the glass slumps under its own weight.
ShapeRolled on the steel, opened with a graphite paddle, and pulled to the height you chose.
AnnealStraight into the kiln and down to room temperature overnight, or it cracks on the bench.
CheckFilled with water and stood for a day before it is wrapped.
Enquire

Order a vessel.

Tell us the height and the colour. We reply with a date for the next kiln run and a total.