A handblown ruby, pink, and purple glass vase patterned with intricately involuted murrine (patterned tiles of colored glass) made using ancient Venetian (Muranno) techniques. Murrine are tiles of patterned glass. These murrine were fabricated by first gathering clear glass into a small cylinder and overlaying it with a thin layer of opaque pink glass, then a thin layer of clear, and then a thicker layer of ruby glass. That glass was then blown into a shape similar to a coffee cup and kept warm (around 1000 F) while clear glass was gathered on a steel rod and overlayed with purple glass and then with more clear glass with enough volume to just barely fill the cup. Then the cup was set upright and the hot mass of clear and purple was carefully inserted into the cup to fill it without trapping bubbles (a maneuver called "stuffing the cup"). Now, on the end of a steel rod, was a cylinder of glass with a set of concentric layers: clear-ruby-clear-pink-clear-purple-clear (from the outside in to the center). That cylinder was then brought to an even temperature just below fully molten, flattened into a tabular shape, attached to a second steel rod, and pulled from both ends to create about 10-15 feet of cane with a rectangular cross section, still with concentric layers of color (end of the first studio day). That cane was annealed, cut into 5-6 inch lengths and stacked and wired in a bundle (another non-studio day). That bundle then heated in a kiln, picked up on a pipe, fused together and then that fused bundle was placed into a form and a thin steel paddle, known as a tagliola (Italian for cut) or tag, was pushed down through the middle of the fused stack of cane. The resulting highly deformed stack of glass rectangles was then carefully heated and fused back together and made into a square rod with a fancy patterns of involuted and distorted ovals. That wide, squat rod was then heated and pulled into a roughly 4-foot long bar about a half-inch to an inch on a side (another full studio day). That bar was annealed and later cut into square wafers AKA murrine (another non-studio day). To make the piece, these murrine were laid out in a two-dimensional sheet, heated to fuse them together, and then rolled up onto a bubble of clear glass and blown out into the three-dimensional object you see today (a third studio day). This vessel is one of a kind and was blown by the artist (David Lee Smith) . Because this is hand-blown, there are small bubbles and tool marks present in the piece. These are artifacts of the process and testify to its handblown nature. This vessel is a piece of art and is signed and dated (2023) by the artist. The murrine pattern in this vessel results from a fusion of David's background in the deformation of rocks and inspiration drawn from murrine created by Lino Tagliapietro, a modern Venetian (Murano) maestro. Infused with contemporary flair, the vase is a treasure sure to be cherished by anyone lucky enough to acquire it. It makes the perfect gift for that hard-to-shop-for person on your list. It's for sure they don't already have this one-of-a-kind piece of art! IMPORTANT: This piece is currently on consignment to the Skaneateles Artisans gallery in Skaneateles, New York (in the Finger Lakes). It may be purchased here online, but will be shipped from the gallery, rather than from my studio. A portion of the proceeds will go to the gallery, consistent with my consignment contract with them. Hand washing strongly recommended.
