The delicacy of flame worked glass
- Elliott’s detailed pieces are made from multiple smaller units
- He specialises in the flame working method
- Alongside finespun glasswork, he is developing new techniques with recycled glass
Elliott Todd applies heat to glass to make very fine elaborate constructions. His intricate pieces are made with the flame working method, connecting small glass tubes to each other in a precise, repetitive fashion after softening them with the torch. Through his practice, Elliott also studies ways in which industrial, hardened bottle glass can be reimagined as something beautiful and useful. “Working with recycled glass has also turned into a passion for me,” he says. “I hope to turn on its head the notion that it is no good for aesthetic work.” While maintaining and developing his practice, Elliott pursues an active teaching schedule, fostering the continuance of his craft at home and abroad.
INTERVIEW
I work with glass, but what I do specifically is flame working, which is a little bit different from the traditional hot shop process you may have seen. With flame working, we start cold with tubing, while hot glass starts hot with a furnace.
Furnace size can be a challenge. When I had access to the facilities that go with a million dollar studio at college, I made some of my best and most impactful pieces. My biggest issues right now are the limitations of my own work space.
It can be a meditative process. With flame working, one does not need to constantly keep the piece hot. With my pyramid piece, I create something simple like an equilateral triangle and then keep multiplying that image and seeing what it becomes once I have created a mass of repeating shapes. It turns into something greater than itself.
Yes. I want to work more with recycled glass. When I was in school, I was taught that recycled glass is useless. It gets really hot, goes into the mould and seizes up immediately so it keeps that form. What I have been trying to do is see how far you can push this material and those assumptions.
