Encalmo bowl with red murrine - handblown glass art

A handblown glass bowl patterned with red murrine and deep bluish-purple glass, joined in the encalmo process. 

To make the murrine, canes (glass rods containing concentric circles of color) were first assembled and pulled out in long rods roughly the diameter of a pencil. Then those canes were cut into segments and groups of those segments were bundled to form a colored pattern and were wired together. Then those bundles were heated and melted together and then stretched again, to form a rod roughly 1 inch in diameter that was then broken or cut into thin disks of patterned glass known as murrine. Those murrine were then laid out on a kiln shelf, heated, and rolled up on a bubble. Several hours of work over at least three studio days went into fabricating the murrine, even before the bowl is made. The bowl was completed using the encalmo process. The murrine-covered bubble was opened into a cup shape. Then, a second bubble, colored with powdered hyacinth-colored glass was formed into a cup shape as well and the the two hot cups were joined lip-to-lip, melted together, and blown into the final form. This bowl is one of a kind and was blown by the artist (David L Smith) with a unique shape and pattern. Because this is hand-blown, there are small bubbles and tool marks present in the piece that are artifacts of the studio glass process. This bowl is a piece of art and is signed and dated by the artist. And it it a practical object as well, suitable for use every day. Hand washing recommended.