Sandblasting

I am often asked questions about the sandblasted surfaces on my work.  I first started sandblasting in graduate school at San Diego State around 1999.  I had been working on a series of wheel thrown nested cups. I wanted to create more contrast with the egg shaped cup that sat inside the nest.  The glaze is a cone 10 reduction glaze that turns matte gray when sandblasted. 

As time passed, I started to add patterns to the surface using electrical tape that was cut with an X-Acto wheel that allowed me to start cutting curves that I could not get with a straight blade X-Acto.

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The more that I worked with sandblasting the more I wanted the designs to not be so stiff.  I discovered the X-Acto wheel and it allowed me to cut curves that I could not get with a straight blade X-Acto.

My desire to do more complex designs on the surfaces of my work led me to start drawing images using Adobe Illustrator. I then sent those drawings to a sign maker.  They used my vector-based graphic to direct a computer-driven micro knife to cut my images out of adhesive backed sandblast resist.  I drew things I saw in my greenhouse full of orchids, but I would slightly abstract them to allow for different interpretations.  I like that people see very different things when they look at the images. People have said they see dancers, seed pods, squid, jelly fish, aliens, kites, and much more.  Very often, viewers see things that relate to interests in their own lives and this connection is what inspires me to choose and abstract the images that I do. 

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Applying the sandblast resist and cutting it to match the alterations in the form. The design is a result of blending patterns taken from newly emerging bamboo and from orchids.

This simple design was inspired by the way patterns of line wrap around the hood of a Paphiopedilum orchid flower in my greenhouse.