Dancing Bottle (G51)
Catalogue Record
Collection
Maker
Catherine Hough
Title
Dancing Bottle
Made in
London
Date
1989
Description
Clear carved bottle with glass stopper.
Materials and techniques
The bottle and stopper are carved from a blank of 24% lead glass. The bottle is blown glass with additional heavy trails of glass applied to each side to provide extra thickness for carving. The stopper is also made on a blowing iron and stretched and curved to reflect the final form.
The entire surface of the blank is then carved using a wide variety of stone grinding wheels on a lathe or a flat metal grinding wheel. The stopper is carved to compliment (sic) the bottle form and is then ground into the bottle so that the two parts fit together.
The rough ground surfaces are then refined using progressively finer wheels, grinding grits and diamond pads.
Selected surfaces are then polished or sandblasted.
The entire surface of the blank is then carved using a wide variety of stone grinding wheels on a lathe or a flat metal grinding wheel. The stopper is carved to compliment (sic) the bottle form and is then ground into the bottle so that the two parts fit together.
The rough ground surfaces are then refined using progressively finer wheels, grinding grits and diamond pads.
Selected surfaces are then polished or sandblasted.
Object number
G51
Category
Maker's statement
This piece was one of a group of five sculputral bottles made for the Glass=Works Exhibition at Contemporary Applied Arts in January 1989. As such, it represents a new phase of my work. Having for many years specialised in perfume bottles, Ifelt the need to experiment with work of a larger scale. This was made possible by working with Simon Moore who could make the large heavy blanks to my design for me to carve. The first pieces from this collaboration were often abstract or bowl forms experimenting with mass. balance and movement through the medium of thick transparent forms. My interest in bottles soon filtered back into this work with their function now taking second place to thefacination of relating the elements of bottle and stopper together as a single sculptural form.