Public Art in Arlington

Arlington County has updated and expanded their cultural affairs website and it is worth a visit. The site provides a great overview of public art in the county.

http://www.arlingtonarts.org

There are photos of both completed and ongoing projects. Two of my favorites are the glass mosaic "Downstream" in Shirlington Plaza by artist Martha Jackson Jarvis and "Flame" by artist Ray King on North Glebe Road.

"Arlington County was originally part of the ten-mile square parcel of land surveyed in 1791 to be the Nation's Capital. Then known as Alexandria County of the District of Columbia, it included what is now Arlington County plus part of the neighboring City of Alexandria. Congress returned that portion of land to the Commonwealth of Virginia following a referendum among its citizens. The City of Alexandria and Arlington separated their jurisdictions in 1870, and in 1920 the name Arlington County was adopted."

"Arlington, the second smallest county in the U.S., encompasses 25.9 square miles with an estimated residential population of 208,000 (in 2008) and an estimated daytime workforce population of 300,000 (in 2008). There are no incorporated cities or towns with Arlington. It is five miles from Washington, D.C.

* Arlington's Public Art Program is administered by the Community and Public Art Section of the Cultural Affairs Division, Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources
* The Arlington County Board approved a Public Art Policy in September, 2000.
* The Public Art Master Plan was approved in December, 2004. Program guidelines for county-initiated projects were approved in 2005 and guidelines for developer and community-initiated projects are currently in development.
* Arlington has a long history of developer-initiated public art projects beginning in 1979 with the commission of Nancy Holt's Dark Star Park.
* Arlington is currently home to 56 permanent public art projects, with many more underway.
* Arlington has hosted over 40 temporary public art projects since 1987.
* Arlington's Public Art Program typically has around 35 developer-initiated projects underway at any given time. In December, 2008, just under $3 million is designated for upcoming public art projects through developer contributions.
* Many of Arlington's public art projects focus on the following areas due to the high density and visibility of these corridors:
1. Rosslyn-Ballston Corridor, particularly those that support larger urban design goals;
2. Four Mile Run Corridor, both in parkland and areas such as Shirlington, the Trades Center campus and Four Mile Run/Nauck area;
3. Columbia Pike Corridor, to unify the streetscape of this major road and integrate into transit;
4. Jefferson Davis Corridor, development of various centers including Four Mile Run restoration, Potomac Yards, Crystal City and Pentagon City."

Technical Question #2: Your newly cast plaster/silica mold cracked as you were moving it. Can it be saved?

Larger molds can crack more easily if you move them before they are fully dried. I usually leave them in place for at least one full day. I do flip most molds right side up and remove the clay as soon as the plaster sets in less than an hour but larger molds (16 inches or more) can be trickier. If you leave the large mold as is (do not flip) for 24 hours, the clay will not dry out since the plaster will keep it pliable.

If the mold cracks and the breaks are clean (2-3 sections), you may be able to repair it. Remove the clay and allow the mold to dry in place for several days to a week. Next, clean the clay residue from the inside of the mold using a damp towel. Take each mold section and place it in the kiln and reassemble your mold. If you have high temperature wire, you can wrap it around the outer edge of the mold to secure the sections from moving.

Next, you can mix up a few tablespoons of the plaster/silica mix and smooth it on (or pour gently) over the cracks. This mixture dries instantaneously so you have to work quickly. In an hour, you can then gently sandpaper any bumps or unevenness on the repaired areas.

Finally, you can then place your glass in the mold but should monitor it when it the glass reaches melting temperatures in case the mold does not hold and allows spillage of the glass. I have used this technique a few times but it is not guaranteed.

Technical Question #1: You underestimated the amount of glass needed for your casting. Can this be fixed?

With some of the dragonfly castings, it has been difficult to stack the glass high enough in the mold so that it fully sinks into the mold and fills it out during one kiln firing. So I have been able to reuse my molds one more time if there are no major cracks. I first dust off any residue on the glass in the mold and stack more glass on top of the existing glass casting. Do not touch or move the mold since it is very breakable at this point and it will simply crumble away if moved.

Since I am adding glass to an existing casting, I need to fire the second time around more slowly and anneal longer. I do not use the same firing schedule I used previously. While I hesitate to give a firing schedule since kilns vary and so do sizes of the work and the type of recycled glass, I would add at least 2 hours to the firing schedule per 0.25 inch of glass (based on the depth of the mold depression needed to be filled with more glass).

What does a casting look like after firing? Removing the plaster and excess glass.

As I mentioned earlier, the recycled glass is kiln-cast in plaster and silica molds. After firing and cooling, the plaster will easily crumble away from the casting. Sharp glass edges may remain on some of the casting so wear gloves.


Most castings do not come out perfect and a lot of cold working must be done. I first use use my glass grozier pliers which is a hand tool for removing away small excess bits of glass. Since you have to estimate how much glass to stack in your mold, excess glass can flow around the edges of the mold and this glass can be nipped away. If the glass is too thick, it will have to be cut off with a wet tile saw or glass saw (electric).

The casting has to be wet scrubbed with a variety of brushes to remove the plaster bits embedded in the glass. Any pointed tool will also work in picking out bits of plaster. There will still be some pinpoint plaster bits remaining so the casting can be soaked in a variety of substances. I have had some luck with Coca-cola which acts to fizzle the plaster out of crevices. Lime-Away can be used as well but since this is a toxic chemical, wear gloves and do not leave it unattended where children or pets may have access to it. Some chemicals can create an etched effect so be cautious in testing different chemicals if you do not want to achieve that effect.

Freecycle: A large donation of four bags of bottles!

One source of recycled glass and other materials is Freecycle.org. You can go to the website at www. freecycle.org and sign up for the freecycle in your area. I think Freecycle limits you to two cities/areas so choose wisely. People post unwanted items that include everything from sofas to toys to even glass bottles or a broken glass table top on occasion. The only requirement is that you have to pick it up (assuming you email back your interest and you are selected by the poster). You can also post requests for items you are seeking. While large quantities of glass do not pop up every day, I usually come across something I need monthly.

Someone recently posted that they were giving away multiple bags of wine bottles. I asked if they were from varied products or one to two identical products. The bottles were huge and came from 2 identical sources. While this is no guarantee of compatibility kiln-wise, it does increase the likelihood a bit. I did some pretesting and the large set of 16 plus identical green bottles seem very compatible. The smaller set of about 8 smaller brighter green smaller bottles did not seem as compatible between bottles so they will not be mixed together in kiln-castings.

Mold Making 101

I cast a lot of my glass works in plaster/silica molds. I make a model in clay first and this model must have flat bottom. I take a sheet or two of very heavy duty plastic and place it on a flat board and then set the clay model firmly on top of it. I then make a circle using bendable aluminum flashing (taped or clipped into a circle shape) and pull the plastic up though the top edge of the aluminum. I make certain the plastic is flat and even at the bottom of the circle. The aluminum circle must be a good inch or inch and a half larger than the clay mold. These steps should prevent leaks of the plaster/silica mix. I know some artists simply build clay dams around their models vs. using flashing and plastic but it can be time consuming and it is prone to leaking.

I then fill up a container with warm water and mix an equal volume of a 50/50 pottery plaster and silica mix to the water. It is best to keep a separate bin where you have already premixed the dry plaster/silica mix. To do so, I take a large bin and mix in a cup of each powder at a time. So I always have premixed dry mix on hand to make molds.

The plaster/silica powder is then dumped a cup at a time into the water until it begins to not sink into the water. The volume is typically 50% water and 50% dry mix and when in doubt, add more powder, not less. I next mix the lumps with my hands until the mixture is very creamy. I then begin to pour the mixture over the clay model until is about an inch higher than the model. It is good to sometimes agitate the mixture for a minute or two by tapping the sides gently to get rid of any air bubbles. Depending on the size of the mold, the plaster/silica should be set up in an hour to so.

I then remove the aluminum edging and flip the mold over. The clay must then be carefully removed from the mold. The clay can be saved for reuse later. After the clay is removed, I take a damp towel and further eliminate all clay residues. While you can now place crushed glass into the mold right away, I prefer to let my molds set for several days or more to eliminate additional water content.

When you decide to place your crushed glass into the mold, you have to stack it about a third or more beyond the height of the mold. The molds can only be used once in kiln-casting and after they cool, they easily crumble away from the cast glass.

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to post questions.

Experimenting with Enamels and Frits

Since there can be a limited range of colors of recycled glass (shades of green, clear glass that turns a pale mint green, blue and a few tinted colors like black), I wanted to add a splash of color to my cast dragonflies. A few companies make compatible frit (crushed glass) for float glass and enamels (Thompson enamels). Since cast recycled glass in not clear, you are not able to see colors interspersed through it (as one would see in a clear paperweight for example).

I placed cobalt blue frit in the bottom of the plaster mold (along the body core) and sprinkled black frit along the wings. The glass was then stacked into the mold and cast.

After cooling, I then mixed water and white powdered enamel to create a paint and painted this enamel on the wings and slowly heated it up in the kiln to about 1450 degrees. This temperature is not high enough to change or alter the shape of the dragonfly but it does melt the enamel paint. You can see the effects below and the amount of work required for just one of the small dragonflies (and we have not even covered coldworking!)