Creating Another Foot

Unfortunately, the foot that I made for the bowl blew up in the firing due to not preheating the kiln for long enough. The piece was slightly wet and I should have set a longer preheat in the firing schedule to assure it would come out in one piece.

So, I decided I had three options. One, to throw another foot, bisque it, glaze it and cold surface it, or attach it back on using epoxy. Two, to throw another foot, make a mold out of it and cast glass in. Three, throw another foot, make a mold of it and slump glass into it. I tried all three and the most successful one was the ceramic foot.





After the piece blew up in the kiln, I had to grind down all the sharp edges and make it as smooth and flat as possible so the secondary foot would fit snug.

Here, I threw a hallow ring for the foot, sliced the foot in half and put both halves faced up to create a mold for the slumping process. I placed the convex side of the form facing up so I would have the reversal or concave side of the form in my mold. Once the mold was dry enough, I have the shallow form revealed which makes it easier to slump the glass into.

This method did not work as the glass cracked during the firing and split apart.

The third attempt consisted of throwing another hallow ring, or foot, taking the same shape and design as the other ones. I placed this foot facing up in order to make a mold to cast glass in. Once the plaster is poured over the foot, I will let it set up and take shape. I then will carefully flip the mold over and take out all of the clay to reveal the shape of the mold. Measuring the amount of glass I need consists of measuring the cubic inches of the clay foot I just took out of the mold. Once I have the right amount of glass, I am able to cast the glass in the mold by stacking the glass in a flower pot. I am using a drip method by hovering the pot above the mold with stilts, and letting the glass drip through the hole of the flower pot and into the mold. 

Unfortunately, this method didn't work either, the glass wasn't able to flow through the entire mold due to the thin areas (the curved area) in the foot.