Martin Blank and his team have developed a highly specialized array of tools and techniques in order to create life-sized human figures out of solid glass. In this video we see the team creating a torso out of Glass and then how the torso is incorporated with other elements to create a pair of figures suspend in space.
The project begins by layering clear, blue and green glasses with silver leaf. This mass is then transferred to a new pipe which is locked into a special track system and rotated by a large metal wheel. A new mass of glass is added for the hips and buttocks, and then the entire mass is covered with more fresh glass from the furnace. Martin shapes each bit of glass into the form he wants until he decides the sculpture is complete.
The torso is then wheeled into a 1,000 degree Fahrenheit oven where it will eventually cool down. Before it can be broken off the pipe though, it must rotate for 15 minutes so the glass has time to stop moving. It is then broken off and fire-polished, before it begins its week long journey to room temperature.
The completed sections are cut and polished to length and then suspended above the floor in the studio, before being installed in the client's home.
