The Autumn Foliage Series of hand blown art glass was inspired by the fall colors found during autumn. Pennsylvania is a great place to be this time of year.
As the fall season is approaching, I enjoy reflecting on this art glass work I created many years ago.
I grew up and live in this part of the world. Living here, it’s not hard to take inspiration from the changing autumn foliage.
In the autumn, the leaves of many trees found in Pennsylvania begin their colorful transformation. From dark reds and oranges to vibrant yellows, the color variation can be amazing.
Making the Autumn Foliage glass vase
I used actual maple leaves from my backyard. Selecting different size leaves, I created a pattern from the leaves for a stencil. I had the stencil made by ‘laser’ cutting the image of the maple leaves from a thin sheet of brass plate.
Before blowing glass, I placed the stencil with the image of maple leaves on a hot steel plate. I sprinkled a combination of different colored ‘glass’ powders onto the stencil. The colored glass powder creates the image of fall leaves.
During the glass blowing process, the glass powder leaves in fall colors will be applied to the body of the glass vase. After forming the basic shape of the vase, I rolled the hot glass vase over the stenciled leaf image. The transferred image of leaves is then melted into the surface of the glass.
The leaf lid was a bit more complicated. First, I sculpted a ‘leaf’ finial out of hot glass. The glass leaf finial was kept in an oven at around 1000 degrees while I made the main part of the lid. The glass leaf was then attached to the lid using hot torches.
With the leaf lid completed, the autumn foliage inspired art glass vase is done… Showcasing the fall colors of my favorite season!
By Bernard Katz
