Weavings
In her signature series, Carlyn weaves together hand-pulled glass with metal wires to create woven tapestries of light and color. These undulating glass forms can be mounted on walls, suspended from above, or free-standing sculptures.
The Process
Consultation and Planning
The first step to make the art feel apart of the room is knowing the space through plans, site visits, and/or photos. Understanding the overall budget or looking for the perfect design will also drive possibilities.
A typical question Carlyn asks is whether you are looking for an energetic or soothing feeling, a bright or subtle color palette. She will send you the palette and make modifications to it until all the colors are to your liking. Site visits to hang the template and bring glass color samples are the next step. If the project is out of the local area, templates and samples can be shipped. Finally, all of these details will be captured in a contract.
Glassblowing and Assembly
From the template of the piece, Carlyn and her team bend and weld the metal. Based on the shape and size, the glass team pulls and curves specific lengths of each color of glass in your chosen color palette. Carlyn assembles these glass pieces on the frame and will either invite you in for a color approval or send you photos with updates. With your approval, she will continue and wire all the glass to the frame.
If you are interested, she loves to share the process and have you come into the studio and pull out a glass piece yourself to be used in the piece. When the glass is woven with the wires, we solder the correct lighting onto the back of the frame base and test hang the piece for your final approval.
Installation and Lighting
Carlyn and her team cut out a template of the exact shape of the glass weaving. This is taped onto the wall to find the perfect position to place the hardware to hold the weaving. We secure custom brackets into the wall for each attachment point. Each weaving is structurally attached to the wall or ceiling with brackets or cables. The lighting box (if applicable) is assembled behind the piece.
Weavings can be suspended on cables, hung from the ceiling, or, most commonly, mounted on the wall. Downlighting, even on backlit pieces, allows the piece to sparkle. In the future, each weaving can be easily moved to another location and re-hung the same way it was originally installed.
The Materials
Glass
There are a myriad of different colors available. Through layering and blending of colors, the feeling of the piece can change with opacity, vibrancy, and color texture. We create a color palette for each custom piece by looking at the colors in the environment or with the understanding of the intent of the piece. Is the desire to have happy colors in the space or a more soothing, grounded, and calming feeling? Colors can help create moods and possibilities are endless.
Lighting
LED lights can be individually placed behind the piece and their temperature (warm, neutral, or cool colors) will be paired both with the lights in the room, as well as corresponding with the colors in the weaving. Downlights above the weaving can create great shadows through the glass and create sparkles on the surface. We also offer color-changing lights to allow you to set the mood of the piece. You can change the color from white to having a purple, turquoise, or slowly color-changing piece.
Metal
The metal frame that the glass is woven onto is stainless steel. The metal wires used to hold the glass to the frame can be stainless, copper, gold, or colored.