In the Studio

Everything starts here in my studio. 

Heather Hancock in the studio preparing Realize3 for grouting

My studio space

Mosaics are messy.  There's literally glass everywhere.  Having this dedicated studio space has totally changed how I'm able to work. 

I spend a lot of time with my sketchbook/journal exploring concepts + visual vocabulary on paper.  Generally I start in written form, identifying an area of interest or a connection that I find interesting and writing to clarify the idea (in fact the role of language as a tool for clarifying and framing ideas is one of those recurrent ideas).  Most of my 'inputs' come from reading in my professional literature: language and cognition.  Maybe because of my science background, I tend to start projects with hypotheses and goals.  Sketching and drawing is then all about finding a visual representation of this abstract idea or hypothesis.  I often find visual references in the natural world (ie foliage, the line of a vine, the shape of oil on water) to re-purpose for my explorations.

I generally do small-scale drawings and resize in photoshop to create full-scale patterns.  I use my markers to do basic color planning.  And then develop palettes using actual glass samples.

Color planning with markers

Precision cutting is integral to my work.  My visual vocabulary depends on being able to make glass curve and flow.  I generally do direct method so I'm working on the right side of my glass.  I use weldbond adhesive or thinset to adhere individually cut pieces of glass directly on a sealed wood/MDF surface.  The piece always changes and evolves as I cut it so I do a fair amount of editing and revising.  As in, cranking glass off and removing adhesives then re-cutting and adhering. 

To make this easier, I am starting to use the double reverse method.  Glass is adhered to sticky paper laid over the pattern and then face-taped and transferred to the final substrate.  This has worked for small scale pieces and makes editing and revising so much easier.

Face-taped mosaic elements for Impel splash2 ready for installation