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Pandy
Mill Glass Studio
Adjoining
the gallery is the studio where Jan designs and creates her glasswork. If the
gallery is not too busy you might be offered a tour of the studio. You will be
able to see how Jan creates the two different styles of glass art - tiffany and
glass fusion. If you are there at the right time you might see the fused glass
as it emerges from the oven!
Jan
Singleton

My name is Jan
Singleton. I am a glass artist and designer and, in partnership with my
husband Richard, I own and run Pandy Mill Glass Studio and Gallery.
In my
studio, I make glass panels for
walls, doors and windows, fused glass plates and bowls for both display and use,
and larger scale architectural pieces that form an integral part of a building
or garden.
I have been studying
art in one form or another since 1974 - a love of art, once it is in you, never
leaves you. After 4 years study I gained a B.A. Hons. Degree in Graphic Design
from Manchester School of Art in England.
When I moved to the
Netherlands in 1985, I had the opportunity to study glass design under the
excellent technical leadership of Joost Wijnberg, Glass School in Noordwijk, ( http://www.kijkglas.nl/
) . Under his wing, I soon learned that this was an area that I really wanted to
specialize in. During the 1990’s as my skills developed, I was able to
undertake commissions and start up in business on my own. I became interested in
glass fusion after studying under Stagge in Germany. He also handbuilt my kiln for
me!
I have completed many
commissions over the last 18 years, both private and public buildings.
Moving
back to the UK in 2005, I have set up my business, Pandy Mill Glass Studio, and feel I have mastered a wide range of technical skills
over the past 20 years.
"Jan
produces works of art in glass that
combine both inherent beauty in their own right as well as elegance in their
technical solution of an interior or exterior design requirement".
Please
contact: singleton@pandymill.wanadoo.co.uk
if you require more information.
Glass Art
Information
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I
employ two main techniques to produce my panels:
Cold
Glass - Tiffany
Technique ('glass-in-copper'/stained glass)
This
is so called after the American artist Louis Comfort Tiffany, who
introduced this technique at the turn of the 20th century. This is
similar to the ‘glass-in-lead’ technique you see in
churches, but instead of lead around the glass edge, there is copper
foil and solder. So, in effect it is ‘glass-in-copper' .The copper
and solder line can make the panel stronger and certainly allows you
to be more detailed.
Whilst
we sometimes dismiss this method as a little passé, I think that’s
a great pity because with a modern design, this technique can look
fantastic. The glass itself
comes in a wealth of colours and a wide variety of textures, both
opaque and transparent. There is an amazing selection available, much
of it beautifully creative in its own right, and I very much
enjoy the search for 'the right piece'. The glass comes from either
Germany or America. I like to
use a mixture of opaque and transparent, depending on how much light
there is. If the light is limited, for instance, a glass panel can be
placed directly on a wall and then opaque glass works well by
itself.
Hot
Glass - Fusion Technique
My
second technique is working with hot glass called glass fusion. Glass
layers fuse in a kiln reaching temperatures of 900 degrees Celsius. I
can make my own unique glass panels by adding coloured crushed glass
and other interesting materials between the fused layers. The
result is completely different to the 'Tiffany Technique', but
equally attractive. Glass
fused panels are strong and heavy, suitable for
architectural purposes in big projects such as walls.
When
working with a kiln you have to follow strict technical rules.
Learning the way the oven temperatures will affect the glass and
colour is both fascinating and frustrating. You
may only fuse glass pieces that are compatible with each other. It is
not possible to mix different glasses together due to their different
rates of expansion. Otherwise it will crack in the 'cooking' process.
The 'cooking' process is quite long and has to be programmed
carefully. Too quick an ascent of temperature or indeed descent, will
result in anything from a tiny crack in your work to a massive
explosion in your oven, neither of which is desirable !
When a creation is very big or thick in diameter, it has been known
for them to be cooking in a very slow oven for anything up to 8
weeks!! Although this technique sounds very technical, I like to think
I have a large artistic element to play as well. For example they can
be used in many different but interesting ways.
It would be lovely to build a
wall in a public building with an idea such as these 'gothic cross'
panels below. I envisage many different panels, not necessarily of the
same size, with different points of interest but sticking to the
theme. Each panel would be somehow linked to the cross:
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The
panels could be supported in any number of ways – bricks, cement or
within an artistic steel structure. These
glass panels can “kill two birds with one stone”. By that I mean
you can create the required dividing wall but also have a piece of art
work at the same time – FUNCTIONAL ART !
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