These are pictures of my final project. The first three are all general shots of how I had it arranged and what it looked like in the space. I think the fishing line worked out exceptionally well as the individual circles did appear as if they were floating. I think the lighting in the critique room was on my side as well because the gradual increase in green concentration did stand out more in that room than it did in my house! The final picture is focusing on the sweating that took place on my piece, specifically on this particular circle. I think that the temperature in the critique room was a little too warm for my sugar glass, and it started to deconstruct. Although t was messy, I think this change that started to take place helped identify the fragility of this material and how temperature specific it is. It also played into the drama aspect I was trying to portray, rather than breaking or me dropping it, as I was trying to present my piece it was falling apart on sight.
As soon as our theme for this project—found object—was introduced to us, I immediately started thinking about the two things that I have always wanted to try—making sugar glass and melting glass. Melting glass bottles is always fun; however, melting glass would have been tricky with the limited tools that I have. This is why I decided to incorporate sugar glass into my project. After deciding on using sugar glass, I knew that I would have to do an extra step because I not only needed to create my art, but I also needed to create my material. This gave me a little more freedom because I could physically change how the sugar glass was made in regard to shape, size, and color. This freedom also caused a few problems because I did not know how I wanted to present the sugar glass. Originally, I was planning on depicting the cooking show theme and baking a basic cake and placing the shards of sugar into it to create unique forms. I decided against this approach, though, and wanted to employ the stained glass idea. Rather than resembling an exact window, I am using 9 seven-inch circles in close proximity to create a window form, and incorporating different concentrations of green to give it a falling effect. Instead of using my art as a commentary to address a social issue, I wanted to simply portray the possibilities that can be made using sugar. I did not want to evaluate anyone because I felt that would take away from the material and its beauty, so instead I am focusing on its beauty and the drama that is often included in making this form of sugar. Sugar glass has been used in numerous cooking shows and after seeing it, I have always wanted to try making it. However, the drama that takes place on the shows as a result of making the glass made me put the idea on hold. Sugar glass is difficult to work with, and after it is made, is very fragile and is often broken by the chefs. I am including color into the sugar to give it a stained glass effect. I am also using fishing line to hang my sugar glass because it is clear and will allow the sugar glass to appear like it is floating. I am planning on hanging the pieces in a five row by six column area that will take up roughly four feet in width. The top row of this box will hang down roughly three feet from the wire, and the bottom row will hang roughly six feet from the wire. The most important thing I learned from this class was that planning is key, which I learned specifically from this project.
Originally, my plan was on a much larger scale, as I was going to use thirty different circles for my piece, not only nine. When I was setting aside time to make this project, I forgot to account for the cooling time of each circle after I poured the sugar into the pan. Cooling alone added an additional twenty minutes to each individual process, which made thirty circles impossible with the amount of time I left myself. Another planning mishap that took place was the consistency that I would have needed to pull this project off. I overlooked how each batch of sugar could differ from slight variations. First off, the temperature that the sugar solution reached was very important. Of course, I was heating the sugar to 260º, but I was only measuring the temperature in one spot, not throughout the product. This resulted in unevenly heated sugar, which caused the cloudiness and spottiness throughout the pieces. Another part of my plan that did not work well was the green food coloring application. I did change the amount of food coloring for each new level; two drops for the top row, three for the middle, and four for the bottom row. Those small changes were not reflected in the final pieces however, so the falling effect I hoped for is barely present. Ideally, I could have done this project with thirty identical pans to pour the sugar into and make one big batch of the sugar glass. Consistency improves when the number of trials is reduced, so making it all at once would cut down on error dramatically. Even making three batches for ten pans would have improved the process greatly. Finally, I think overall experience came into play here. This was the first time I have made sugar glass, and I am not an expert on the material whatsoever. This is not an excuse, because I could have done more research and run more tests on simply making the glass. The research I did do was solely on the basics of making sugar glass. I did not run additional tests because the second time I made it, it turned out perfectly, which I now realize was complete luck! :( Looking back on this project, there is one thing that I wish I could change, the presentation. For some reason, I was fixed on using circles for the glass shapes which was one of the biggest challenges because getting the sugar out of the pan after it was cooled was nearly impossible. I think if I just poured the sugar and let it cool naturally in a blob shape. Using the blob shape rather than a perfect circle would have still gotten my idea across and would have taken a lot less time, which would have allowed for me to make more of the shapes as I had originally planned.
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