Rachel Rader
Jason makes a starter bubble, which is the foundation for anything blown in the hot-shop. Michelle shapes two of the tiers of the glass cake to be attached to the base later. Lisa moves back and forth from the reheating chamber (glory hole) to the bench, while Brennan adjusts the doors. Michelle uses jacks to make the opening in the bottom of the tier wider. Michelle uses a wooden paddle to flatten the bottom of the piece. Rachel applies hot bits of glass to the surface of the piece to be sculpted. The glass is hot enough to cut through with scissors at this point. Rachel twists and sculpts the glass that was just applied. Rachel cuts off excess glass. Large propane torches are used to keep everything warm while working on the piece to keep it from getting too cold and cracking. Rachel uses the large propane torch to heat the piece. The separate parts of the cake are reheated by Tyler and Jason. The piece is reheated in the glory hole to keep it from getting too cold and cracking. The top of the cake is given more heat in the glory hole in preparation of it's attachment to the base. The team works together to attach the top of the cake to the base. Success! Rachel heats the bottom of the starfish to be attached to the cake. Rachel places the starfish onto the cake while Ashley shields her arm from the heat of the piece. Finishing touches are made to the cake while the team works to keep the piece warm. Almost done! Tyler suits up in protective gear and gets ready to put the piece away. Rachel heats the attachment point of the piece to the pipe (the punty), and builds up the heat to prepare for the break off of the cake. Tyler positions himself to catch the piece. Rachel breaks the piece off into Tyler's arms. The piece is placed in an annealor which slowly cools down to room temperature. 48 hours later... Voila! Mermaid Food!
Process I
These process shots were taken at Pratt Fine Arts Center in Seattle, Washington.

Photos by James Harnois
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