Friday March 4th, 2022 @ 7pm EST on YoutubeHello Lightning Tamers!
This Friday I'll be joined by Ed Kirshner live on youtube to talk about the upcoming plasma and glass workshop at the Pittsburgh Glass Center called Plasma Sculpture using glass Solder, we will be using a type of kiln fired enamel (or solder) to join readymade glass to create vessels to contain electrified noble gases for illuminated sculptures. Ed had developed and taught classes using this process or technique to create unique sculptures in the absence of and accessibility to glassblowing skill, as well as to explore glassmaking process in the likes of fused, slumped, and cast glass technique for plasma illumination. Hope to see you live, bring lots of questions, we are going to clarify as much as we can about this class and this process, so you can make an informed decision and hopefully join us in July. -Percy Echols II, Taming Lightning
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INSTRUCTOR: Sarah Blood
Additional Course Information
INSTRUCTOR: Ed Kirshner
His glass and plasma sculptures have been exhibited throughout the world. His work is represented in the Corning Museum's 25 Years of New Glass Review. A piece blown by Mitch LaPlante with plasma work by Ed Kirshner has been selected by the Corning Museum of Glass and published in New Glass Review, 2018 as an important recent acquisition by the Bergstrom-Mahler Museum of Glass. Ed’s sculptures are also in such permanent collections as the diRosa Fine Arts Preserve in Napa, CA and the Swiss National Science Center, near Zurich.
Watch | in the form of neon
Dates: July 18 - July 22, 2022
Time: 9:00 AM To 5:00 PM, Additional Studio Time: 6:00 PM - 10:00 PM Tuition: $800.00 Class Description
Go beyond neon. Learn the magic of sculpture with light in glass forms using gas plasma. Capture the Aurora Borealis in a bottle!
​ This class is for anyone who would like to create glass sculpture with dynamic light using a uniquely developed glass solder. Experience with neon, plasma or glass is not required but is highly recommended. The focus of the class is on the creation of suitable containers from existing ""soft"" glass objects. A uniquely developed glass solder will be demonstrated that enables even a beginner to create glass with plasma light sculptures. This glass solder allows the use of utilitarian manufactured glass items as well as assembly of studio blown, cast, and slumped glass shapes to serve as vessels for the plasma. Fused together, basic forms can be transformed into transcendent and mesmerizing glass with dynamic light sculptures. Skill Level: INTERMEDIATE
Individual projects will be tailored to your skill level. Scientists or engineers with little to no glass experience are encouraged to experiment with plasma art in this class.
​ The class will serve to help enhance your experience using gas plasma light in your glass art. You will learn to prepare the glass forms for the solder, how to kiln fire them, how to create dynamic plasma effects using modified neon manifold, and the special electronics involved in plasma sculpture. 
Registration Opens Dec. 1
Dates: July 4 - July 8, 2022
Time: 9:00 AM To 5:00 PM, Additonal Studio Time: 6:00 PM - 10:00PM Tuition: $800.00 Instructor: James Akers
"I love messes and I employ the “show your work†philosophy when designing and creating my work. Neon is my 3D luminous crayon that feeds my obsession with line.
For me, neon provides the eye-grabbing glow of a screen in a three dimensional, shapeable, sculptural, linear glow. I add various modified consumer electrical circuits to a sculpture to expand and give it additional attributes. " JamesAkers.net Class Description:
In this hot shop class, we will be learning both traditional neon techniques as well as a myriad of soft glass plasma techniques. By alternating between neon and plasma processes, we will blur the lines between these two related crafts.
We will be making lots of things! Many of the techniques we will be covering require a bit of trial and error. Some failure is inevitable when learning. By learning and experimenting with a variety of techniques, you will have plenty of tools to use when making neon and plasma ideas. To allow for maximum time in the studio we will have neon demos in the morning, slide lectures after lunch, with plasma demos, filling, and student work time in the evening. Our demonstrations will include basic neon tube bending, sealing on electrodes, using glass solder connections, and leak repairs. We will also be making shapes in the hot shop for reworking with torches. Lectures include examples of both neon and plasma and where they overlap, aesthetic and functional consideration for making plasma works. We will go over rules for making both neon and plasma. You should expect to create simple neon shapes and see firsthand the luminous differences between neon and plasma. You will also be creating sculptures using blown glass shapes in the hot shop that are turned into plasma with flameworking, coldworking and kilnworking techniques. Skill Level: INTERMEDIATE
This class requires some basic hot glass and/or soft hollow glass flameworking skills. We plan on moving quickly and covering a lot of techniques, leaving very little time for covering glassblowing basics. We recommend that you come to class being comfortable with glassblowing or hollow soft glass flameworking fundamentals.
This session will be streamed from the Pittsburgh Glass Center where I will lead us step-by-step on pumping, filling, and lighting a glass vessel for Plasma.
From my podcast, Taming Lightning, and the collaborative video series with GEEX, Intro to Plasma, we’ll touch on a variety of interconnected topics: from the Elements of Plasma venn diagram, to Structural Guidelines for Vessel Crafting, Examples of Aesthetic considerations on the influence of vessel geometry (internal shape of the vessel ) and optical influences of surface attributes(color of glass, translucency, and use of phosphors). If you’re interested in trying to make work for plasma, this session will give you a hint of what is involved in this unique light and glass medium in which collaboration with facilities and artists are likely to be part of this process. Check out Chapter 2: Taking Shape and Chapter 3: It’s Lit: Chemistry of Collaboration from the Intro to Plasma series, as we would love to hear of any questions you have that I can address! -Percy Echols II | Taming Lightning
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Welcome to Taming Lightning, I'm Percy Echols II. I'm the creator and host of Taming Lightning, as well as the emerging plasma tech at Pittsburgh Glass Center, where I'm researching and developing a space to explore Plasma and Neon Light as an Artist Medium.
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