In his work (torn vessels), Eric begins with a basic shape -- usually a cylinder or egg shape. Conceptually he likes to start with the cylinder, because the cylinder is the typical "hardest" shape in glassblowing. It's the shape you first learn, and the hardest one to perfect, because it doesn't lie. That is to say, the viewer knows whether or not a cylinder is off-center and/or has straight walls. Other shapes can hide a lot of imperfections more easily.
Eric also often uses a shape that is reminiscent of
an ancient Chinese form which appears in a lot of ancient pottery. This shape
appeals mostly for aesthetic reasons, but also, he has many connections in his
life to
Using an oxy-propane torch, he painstakingly heat a small portion of the line, cut, reheat the piece, and repeat. The reheating is critical, and it unfortunately slows the process down immeasurably. The cutting takes at LEAST as long as the forming of the piece itself on even the simplest ones.
As the cuts get longer and more involved, the piece begins to loose its structural integrity. This is where it gets fun. Much like a dance, he and his team struggle to keep it hot enough not to break, but cold enough not to collapse and twist into a massive crumpled vessel. In particular, any piece upon which the cuts circumnavigate the vessel over 360 degrees, it becomes necessary to leave “stable” points uncut - to be cut at the very end. Otherwise, the thing would become completely uncontrollable.
At the very end, the final stable points get cut away, one by one. Each one makes the vessel less and less stable until at the very end, there’s a mad scramble to get ready for the final tweaks to achieve the desired form and safely get it off the punty and into the annealer. Quite a few don’t make it through this final five minutes or so. Frustration – always welcomed – is well represented here…