contemporary techniques in architectural glass - International ...

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The silicone does not set hard, rather it stays jelly like, this gives good flexibility but makes
cutting back and cleaning difficult. Silicones are safe to work with and have little odour.
There are also epoxy glues suitable for glass bonding. They are expensive but are made
specifically for glass adhesion. Only one of the interviewed artists said that he had used
epoxy. Most of the artists were happy to let the fabricating studio decide on the type of
adhesive to use on their project.
The suitability of various adhesives for architectural glass use is an issue that requires further
study. In Germany art works are exempt from safety standards, in Spain there seemed to be
no guidelines and in England most lamination was inside double glazed units. It would be
advantageous for an Australian artist if they could be sure that the adhesive method they
were using was to an approved standard.
Edge finishing techniques for glass pieces to be laminated was also studied. Jose Castrillo
grinds and polishes the glass as part of his design process. He indicated that this is mostly
done by hand using a belt arrising machine and horizontal shaft polishing machines. The
precision of the work seen indicated a very high skill level. The basics of hand polishing can
be learnt at trade school, but a lot of experience would be required to produce pieces to Jose’s
standard. Larger pieces can be edged on computer controlled machines e.g. Intermac. The
operator would need to be skilled, the correct software and grinding heads also need to be
available along with the knowledge to be able to program the desired profile into the machine.
The lamination process used at the Derix Studio showed a different approach to that of
Jose. There were two basic styles of windows. One had all of the adhered pieces of glass
touching together. Unless instructed otherwise by the artist the studio carefully grinds
the edges by hand to ensure a near perfect fit. This is very hard to do on curves but can be
done on straight pieces.