This is Caterpie. He is a Glass Caterpillar that I created at the Studio. He is made from borosilicate glass with an internal silver fume. Fuming is one of many ways to add color to glass. For this particular piece, I started with a tube of glass that I opened up into a funnel shape on one end. I prepare my fuming rod by melting some raw silver onto a "punty" which is a glass rod. You warm this all up to prevent cracking in your torch flame. You then sharpen your flame and direct it down the inside of the funnel and hold your fuming rod in the base of the flame. The silver is basically vaporized and carried in the flame to be deposited onto the glass. Makes a beautiful rainbow of colors depending on many factors. You can see Orange, blue, pink and green above. I then close up the funnel end and begin heating the tube section by section to make the body. You kind of gather the glass together as you heat to create the internal restrictions. Then you form the mouth and add the feet, eyes and other decoration with color rods. You can make all kinds of fun critters! I have also done an alligator, several fish and lizards so far. On a side note, wearing respitory protection while attempting this is recommended. Vaporized silver is not good to breath!
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