Gravity Formed Glass Medium Algae Bowl by Verity Pulford

Gravity Formed Glass Medium Algae Bowl by contemporary glass artist Verity Pulford

Diameter 13.5cm x Height 7cm

This bowl is the smaller of a duo that are sold separately - consider buying the larger one to go with it.

Each of these bowls has intricate and delicate patterns taken from algae forms on the inside with a magical blue effect. The white glass is sandblasted to a matt finish.

Gravity forming is the process of creating a flat glass ‘blank’ and then letting this fall with the heat of the kiln through a mould with a hole in the centre. As the glass drapes through the bowl is formed by the glass stretching. When it has cooled it is taken out of the kiln and the bowl cut from the rim and coldworked. A flat area is ground onto the bottom so the piece sits securely.

Verity’s work is inspired by the structures within nature. She is fascinated by light, the magic it creates in the natural environment and the way it interacts with glass, the qualities it creates. She uses a variety of warm and architectural glass techniques to create work for galleries, architectural commissions and exhibition.

"I live and work rurally in North Wales and my immediate environment provides my inspiration. Natural structures such as algae, lichen, moss, grasses, ferns, and fungi. I am interested in the complexity of life- how within each organism are other organisms, each living its own unique existence, layer upon layer of complexity yet a universal oneness, the feeling that we are all the same thing- a system, in communion, a beautiful symphony. It is this blissful, expansive and calm space that I access through nature which is what I am trying to communicate and share in the medium of glass.

I like to combine techniques: cast, pate de verre, kilnformed, painted, etched and also found natural materials in my work. I play with ideas of magical realism, creating my own forms inspired by or combining different plants and organisms."

all photos of this piece are by Stephen Heaton