Search found 32 matches

by John Kurman
Sun Dec 16, 2007 10:44 am
Forum: Art, philosophy, and content
Topic: andy Warhol and satyr face 100 BC
Replies: 2
Views: 8455

Re: andy Warhol and satyr face 100 BC

You are experiencing pareidolia contained within the broader psychological category of apophenia. Here's a helpful URL: https://notes.utk.edu/Bio/greenberg.nsf/e8dc0da1447df7b885257015006e1921/14b378112a5231f185256e710076c382?OpenDocument To broaden this thread, if I'm right, and this is a case of p...
by John Kurman
Sun Oct 12, 2003 10:46 pm
Forum: Techniques and Tools
Topic: Electroforming of Copper on Plates
Replies: 7
Views: 7666

Oh, and a quick aside and warning on anyone who is thinking of doing electoplating at home (not directed at you, Tim I notice from your profile your in engineering and no doubt know all the hazards and dangers involved). The electroplating industry was the first industry that the EPA came down on an...
by John Kurman
Sun Oct 12, 2003 10:19 pm
Forum: Techniques and Tools
Topic: Electroforming of Copper on Plates
Replies: 7
Views: 7666

Tim, Sounds like your best option is the spray-on acrylic. Wax is, of course, an option, and you can safely apply the wax onto the glass and copper with only a mild heating (place the tiles in a warm pan of water, for example). Wax must evertually be resealed. The standard for bronzes is once a year...
by John Kurman
Wed Oct 01, 2003 9:15 am
Forum: Photos and Stuff
Topic: Cast Piece - Comments and critiques please. :-)
Replies: 15
Views: 18345

If you really like the lines...

then I'd explore that aspect further. Hmm. Here it becomes difficult as to what to suggest as to how to proceed. Best for both of us (and anyone else reading) is for you to explain your idea, motive, reason for the existence of this piece. Is it important to you in some way? Does it have to do with ...
by John Kurman
Mon Sep 29, 2003 10:25 am
Forum: Photos and Stuff
Topic: Cast Piece - Comments and critiques please. :-)
Replies: 15
Views: 18345

I was going to comment upon this piece last night with first impressions, but thought, best let the brain chew on this awhile. First impressions first. Our minds, finely honed by millions of years of evolution, like hypertrophied athletes, are demanders of pattern fits. And my pattern fit is “birdâ€
by John Kurman
Mon Sep 15, 2003 8:50 am
Forum: Kiln Casting
Topic: virgin kiln caster has some questions
Replies: 8
Views: 11006

Ted, Yes, cermaic shell has been used, and used successfully for casting glass, but as someone who has used ceramic shell (both for bronze and glass), I suggest you save yourself a universe of trouble and use the ceramic shell only as a sagger exterior coat to hold large castings together. True, cer...
by John Kurman
Tue Aug 26, 2003 7:10 pm
Forum: Kiln Casting
Topic: "Pond scum" mummy wrap
Replies: 8
Views: 11422

Hi Krishnan, Serendipity and all that. I've been "out of the loop' here for a month or so (casting bronze, busting through walls and I-beams laying black pipe for an air hose, building a sandblasting booth, - my main distractions), and just happened to catch your dewaxing thread. And now this i...
by John Kurman
Tue Aug 26, 2003 9:31 am
Forum: Kiln Casting
Topic: Losing the wax in "Lost wax" inv. casting - new id
Replies: 2
Views: 5858

Your setup as you describe it is indeed very inefficient. You are relying on directed steam to do the job when what you want is total immersion. I have, on the fly, setup the following: a hot plate on which rests a cake-baking pan on which rests a cooking rack on which rests the mold. Cover complete...
by John Kurman
Thu Jul 31, 2003 8:59 am
Forum: Photos and Stuff
Topic: Something new
Replies: 22
Views: 32229

Paul, that really is an outstanding piece of work. It's pure "textbook" glass. Exactly what needs to be done with it - simple, and therefore elegant, expressive, clean, and making the most of the qualities of the material. I don't have a problem with realism of the piece - the fact that th...
by John Kurman
Wed Jul 09, 2003 8:08 pm
Forum: Kiln Casting
Topic: Why Plaster Molds Crack
Replies: 11
Views: 20533

It is science

Marc, I didn't mean to send this thread off track, or ruffle your feathers... if I did. You compare what you are doing to literature. Fair enough, as far as analogies go. My point, though, is that what you are doing is science - or at least what you are doing is in the best of scientific traditions....
by John Kurman
Tue Jul 08, 2003 11:44 pm
Forum: Kiln Casting
Topic: Why Plaster Molds Crack
Replies: 11
Views: 20533

We also are not afraid of failure. We try things without expectations. So, I guess, my point is art is not science. You've got to dive in an do it. Not to T-Bone this thread, but, hold on there. Empiricism is exactly what science is all about - at least, since Galileo, which makes it a very, very r...
by John Kurman
Wed Jun 25, 2003 12:02 am
Forum: Business Topics
Topic: How to tell a gallery that they have some junk?
Replies: 20
Views: 22867

Well... a possible solution is to point at the offending pieces and ask the gallery owner about the work. Get them talking about it. Get their opinions on it first. Sound out the bay first before you plow your rig into a bar. At least that way you get their take before you tell them what a P.O.S. it...
by John Kurman
Tue Jun 24, 2003 11:52 pm
Forum: Techniques and Tools
Topic: Fusing with two shelves
Replies: 18
Views: 17395

Basically, we have two things going on with heat. Surface area and emissivity. Let’s get the E-word out of the way. Emissivity is physicist-speak for how well and how quickly a material will transfer heat. This depends upon the type and internal arrangement of the material, but we can ignore this....
by John Kurman
Mon Jun 23, 2003 9:21 am
Forum: Kiln Casting
Topic: properties of mold materials
Replies: 25
Views: 33022

I use nothing but plaster-silica, and, if respectully treated, it behaves quite well. I suspect that the cracks are there already and they become noticeable at 700C or so. Item, a year or two ago, I was in a rush and cured a mold at 400F straight from casting, and it cracked like hell. The cracks fo...
by John Kurman
Wed Jun 18, 2003 11:29 pm
Forum: Photos and Stuff
Topic: Scott Chaseling at Leo Kaplan, NY NY
Replies: 6
Views: 8348

Thanks for the suggestions, cynthia and dave. I have no unrealistic expectations about becoming a honest-to-goodness glassblower - considering I get one hour a week at the bench. I've done canne pickup off the collar before, and know what you are talking about. I'll try your suggestions - but don't ...
by John Kurman
Mon Jun 16, 2003 10:47 pm
Forum: Kiln Casting
Topic: Casting kiln
Replies: 8
Views: 11647

The two-chamber kiln sounds cool, but why not a kiln with two controllers? You can stack four half-shelves or some such arrangement to hold the pot, and just use one kiln with two firing zones. Just my two cents, but I always go with maxim "The more you rig up the plumbing, the easier it is to ...
by John Kurman
Mon Jun 16, 2003 10:39 pm
Forum: Photos and Stuff
Topic: Scott Chaseling at Leo Kaplan, NY NY
Replies: 6
Views: 8348

Yeah, Caseling produces some amazing stuff, no doubt about it. I gotta try my hand at it sometime. We play with what we call "fruit rollups" at the studio, which is basically small single-gather-sized bits of fused glass picked up on the pipe. But they smear and get messy and ugly and fain...
by John Kurman
Fri Jun 13, 2003 11:09 pm
Forum: Kiln Casting
Topic: "lost foam" CAD/CAM mould making
Replies: 9
Views: 12112

I could be wrong, but... Since this all sounds like "rapid prototyping" that has been done in the metals industry for several decades now, I suspect the foam is the same type - which is your standard polystyrene foam used in insulation and packaging and what have you. Acetone works quite w...
by John Kurman
Tue Jun 10, 2003 11:08 pm
Forum: Techniques and Tools
Topic: Fusing with two shelves
Replies: 18
Views: 17395

which goes against the laws of physics, but there it is Well, no. Your kiln is quite happily following the laws of physics (if laws, as in Laws, there be, but that's a philosopical discussion we need not get into here). Although heat rises, and you would expect the top shelf to be hotter, you have ...
by John Kurman
Thu Jun 05, 2003 9:48 am
Forum: Techniques and Tools
Topic: What impresses you?
Replies: 17
Views: 14705

My two cents (take it for what it’s worth).

Hopefully without sending this thread Off Topic, I’ve come to that point in my life where I realize that the question “What is Art?â€