Fishing Floats

I have been thinking about the weighted glass and how it will float on water, and it made me wonder if I could get any inspiration from old fishing floats. Maybe this could be in the form or the way it is weighted. I’m looking forward to seeing how the blown glass diatom forms will react when placed into the water. Will be capture the air within a section of the glass? Will the glass be thicker in one part to create balance or off-balance? Will the glass extend under water to create balance and again, be a hidden element of the final concept.

1950’s Japanese glass fishing floats

Working with Clay

I decided to start off the initial research and ideas by creating some clay forms inspired by my drawings of diatoms. Using B17C stoneware, I rolled out a slab and built up the underside with newspaper to create the curved form. I could then manipulate the wet clay and add texture. I'll pierce holes and refine the form when the clay is leather-hard. I will continue to develop this piece and use it as a sample/test for future ideas.

Manipulating the wet clay

Emma Reynard ©

Detail of textures inspired by Cymbellaceae

The Diatom Pleurosigma or Gyrosigma, depending upon which way the puncta runs, radial or parallel.

Emma Reynard ©

It's interesting to work three-dimensionally to play with concept ideas for the glass. Maybe some of the textures could evolve further with glass techniques. I might also experiment with hidden textures on the underside of this form, something similar to a geode. Again, this makes me think about hidden and secret beauties of nature.

A large geode with calcite and fluorite deposits

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words to inspire

• valves

• protract

• arched

• elliptical

• elongated

• pores

• curve

• radiate

Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka (1857-1939)

I have been fascinated by the glass sculptures and models of Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka since seeing them in the NHM a few years ago. The detail and intricacy they have achieved using glass is astounding. Their scientific models of marine invertebrates look breathtakingly fragile and delicate. I am particularly in awe of the Portuguese man o’ war model which captures the translucency and textures of the jellyfish perfectly. Modelled smaller than life the glass both stained and painted to reveal structures of Physalia physalis, (see image below.)

A glass model of a Portuguese man o’ war, Leopold Blaschka (1822-1895), circa 1877. 8½ x 4 x 3 in (21.5 x 10 x 8 cm). Sold for £10,000 on 30 January 2019 at Christie’s in London

“The medium is certainly suitable for rendering such creatures. They have a translucence, which matches that of glass. But that’s to take nothing away from Leopold’s technical feat. It is his texture I find extraordinary: the way he achieved a gelatinous character that’s so lifelike and compelling.’”

— Head of Science and Natural History James Hyslop

The Blaschkas would make the models for scientific use only and would be sold to museums of natural history. Unlike the preserved invertebrates, the glass models would retain their colour, and therefore providing a more accurate representation of the living specimen. They also made models of microscopic radiolaria inspired by the drawings of Ernst Haeckel. The following video highlights some of the NHM collection of Blaschka models.

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Diatoms by Ernst Haeckel in 'Kunstformen der Natur' 1904.

What are diatoms, and why the fascination?

Diatoms are single-celled algae

Diatoms are algae that live in houses made of glass. They are the only organism on the planet with cell walls composed of transparent, opaline silica. Diatom cell walls are ornamented by intricate and striking patterns of silica.

I first became fascinated by diatoms, after observing some water samples from my garden pond. Not being a scientist, I was transfixed by these strange, secret worlds which I could peer into. I wanted to be able to show everyone all the amazing things which aren’t visible to the naked eye, things that are taken for granted and unobserved by the majority; the beauty in a bee’s wing, the iridescent sheen on a fly, the complex structure of a tiny seed. I began to draw some of my discoveries viewed down my microscope, I was hooked.

This led me on to further research, including scientific illustrators, explorer’s sketchbooks, the works of Ernst Haeckel and the glassmakers Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka who made scientific glass models of invertebrates and plants. I became intrigued by Victorian artists who would arrange diatoms onto slides, creating complex, kaleidoscopic patterns, only visible through a microscope. THE DIATOMIST is a short documentary about Klaus Kemp, master of the Victorian art of diatom arrangement.

I can see why Klaus Kemp became obsessed with the beauty of diatoms, each individual structure is so intricate and beautiful. After spending time drawing these structures, I felt that the perfect media to explore these forms would be glass. I can’t make glass, but I knew someone who could, that’s were master glassmaker Ian Hankey comes in.

We received a small R&D grant to begin some experiments, working together to see what we could achieve. Due to the lockdown during the Covid pandemic, Ian was unable to get access to the furnaces for the blown glass, so we began with etched glass and looked at possibilities of introducing solar strips into the glass to create energy. I really loved this idea and I went slightly off-tangent imagining etched glass panels in a greenhouse, which had solar strips and could generate enough electricity to heat the greenhouse over winter (that’s an idea to return to at a later date!)

Once Ian was able to get access to the furnace, he created some blown glass forms inspired by my diatom drawings. This is what I had imagined when I thought about the glass diatom forms, and I was excited to see where this body of work could take us if we had the time to play and develop the work.

I applied for the DYCP funding through Arts Council England, and was overwhelmed to find out that my application had been successful. This meant that I would be able to collaborate with Ian and share our ideas and skills. We can become more ambitious, investigative and take creative risks during this 9 month development time.

We particularly want to develop the glass ‘diatom’ forms, pushing the concept of weighted glass to see how it affects the balance & stability of each piece in water. We will experiment with colour, transparencies, form & texture to further develop the aesthetics of the glass.

I’m excited to see where this collaboration will take us, and this blog will document our progress.

Further notes on diatoms

Diatoms turn energy from the sun into sugar

Diatoms have light-absorbing molecules (chlorophylls a and c) that collect energy from the sun and turn it into chemical energy through photosynthesis.

Diatoms produce 50% of the air we breathe

Through carbon fixation, diatoms remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. The CO2 is converted to organic carbon in the form of sugar, and oxygen (O2) is released. We breathe the oxygen that diatoms release.

Diatoms feed the oceans, lakes and rivers

Diatoms produce long-chain fatty acids. Diatoms are an important source of these energy rich molecules that are food for the entire food web, from zooplankton to aquatic insects to fish to whales.

Diatoms are the most diverse protists on earth

Diatoms are eukaryotes, one of the Heterokont algae. Estimates of the number of diatom species range from 20,000 - 2 million. Scientists are discovering new species every year.

Diatoms tell us about the health of aquatic systems

Diatoms are particular about the quality of water in which they live. For example, species have distinct ranges of pH and salinity where they will grow. Diatoms also have ranges and tolerances for other environmental variables, including nutrient concentration, suspended sediment, flow regime, elevation, and for different types of human disturbance. As a result, diatoms are vital for assessment and monitoring biotic condition of waters.

Diatoms and Floating Glass

I was recently awarded DYCP funding from Arts Council England to develop my creative practice.

During the next 9 months I will be collaborating with master glassmaker Ian Hankey. We will create experimental new work from micro-organism observations of diatoms into floating, blown-glass sculptures.

This blog will document our progress.

Detail from sketchbook

Emma Reynard ©