the glass fur project

Skin protects our bodies, and skin coverings reinforce that function. Maybe the cats have anything to do with my fascination of fur and how a mass of hairs becomes an entity of its own... Fur is vital for animals and in archetypal symbology it has the ability to foresee danger (see the quote below, from C. Pinkola Estés's Sealskin, Soulskin tale).

Carefully cut glass stringers, heated in the flame of a candle and prodded into the wax model.

Glass is very thermoplastic; it deforms and distorts in intense heat and can melt into a puddle...but it can also just subtly start to move, under the influence of gravity in a heated kiln or in the flame of a burner. 

I love how the surface seems to be dissolving when see through this mass of stringers!

I want to find out how the heat of a kiln will calm down these hairs; whether gravity will enable them to relax onto each other. But before that is possible there are a few more steps to go! It will be cast into a mould (or rather, I'll build a mould around it), the wax will have to melt away so it can be filled with pâte de verre, it will be fired a first time...the mould has to be broken and washed away very carefully and then I will put it back in the kiln, and let gravity do its job... Who knows, in a later stage I can manipulate the slumping fur in the kiln myself.

a little detail of Assepoes's nose, showing how her fur "flows" in several directions.

If we delve into the symbol of animal hide, we find that in all animals, including ourselves, piloerection - hair standing on end - occurs in response to things seen as well as things sensed. The rising hair of the pelt sends a "chill" through the creature and rouses suspicion, caution, and other protective traits. Among the Inuit it is said that both fur and feathers have the ability to see what goes on far off in the distance, and why an angakok, shaman, wears many furs, many feathers, so as to have hundreds of eyes to better see into the mysteries. The sealskin is a symbol of soul that not only provides warmth, but also provides an early warning system through its vision as well.

Clarissa Pinkola Estés. Women who run with the wolves: contacting the power of the wild woman, Random House, London, 1998, p. 267.

A little inspiration: my board Skin, fur and scales shows how other artists and designers explore this theme!