Aloha, this is Ryan Staub, founder of Moana
Glass, and today I'd to talk with you about
my Cut-Top Vessels.
The Cut-Top Vessel is one of my most popular
vessels.
The design is really very simple, but the
making of it is actually quite complex.
It is multiple layers of glass that are put
together, but the way we put them together
is really pretty tricky.
In order to make these, I have to make my
outer color layer; first, and I'll do that
by overlaying a little bit of highly-concentrated
colored glass on a small, clear bubble.
Then I gather clear on top of that, blow it
up, and make a cup out of it.
To make that cup, I make, sort of the shape
of the bottom of it, attach another iron onto
there, break it off the original blowpipe,
open it up so that the walls are roughly straight,
and then I have an assistant keep that hot.
And, if that gets below about 1000 degrees,
it starts to get cracks, and it's ruined.
So, the job of keeping that hot is really
a pretty important one, and it has to be done
correctly while the rest of the process is
happening.
So, from there, I'll make my inner bubble,
and that is just a kind of a thick, clear
bubble that I put a random wrap of white on.
And, I just use the thinnest little filament
of a very dense white, and that dense white
won't spread, so it retains a really sharp
edge, a really fine white line.
With the Cut-Top Vessel, from there, once
I have that random wrap on there, I stuff
it in what's called an optic mold, which is
like a metal cup with ridges that go on the
inside.
And, those ridges allow me to fold the glass
over, and so when I twist it up, it creates
a woven pattern.
And from there, I have to get the whole thing
hot, melt out all the texture on the surface,
and stuff it inside of that original cup.
So, the timing of that is really difficult
because, again, if the cup gets below 1000
degrees, it cracks, and if it's even just
a little bit too cold when I drop the bubble
inside of there, the heat from the bubble
is sometimes even hot enough to break it.
From there, it's a cold-working process where
we cut the top off of it, hence the name Cut-Top,
and then take it through various grits and
grind it, and bring it all the way to a polish,
so it has a nice faceted edge.
The Cut-Top Vessels are on sale for 25% off
right now.
There's quite a few different ones that I
have online, so make sure you got and check
them out.
If there's anything else you want to see me
talk about, please let me know.
