collaborative experiments, 2025 -

Sculptures by artist Marie Retpen. Blown glass with internal silvering and clay occlusions. 14 x 24 x 10 cm and 9 x 11 x 20 cm. 

Detail with clay occlusions.

Detail with visible impressions from the 3D printed clay mould.

In 2025 I joined a collaborative project started by ceramicist Anna Andersen and glass artist Marie Retpen, who were experimenting with making moulds for glassblowing out of 3D printed clay. Anna and I were commissioned by Marie to fabricate 3D printed clay moulds for use in her sculptural work, for a permanent public installation and a 2026 exhibition in Bornholm, Denmark. 

Test of form and process with clay mould designed by Anna Andersen.

First set of tests of 3D printed clay moulds.

Building on my use of generative AI as a design tool in my project A pot, Marie and I worked with a text-to-3d model generator to create forms that I could use as starting points in my design process. The objects we were looking to create for Marie aligned with my usual approach to making objects: combining past/future, organic/digital, familiar yet also uncanny. 

Design inspiration for the moulds came from geological forms made over long spans of time, like these fossils and sandstone concretions. 

A first test asking a generative AI system to make a 3D model of “an organic bone-like fossil that has the texture of tree bark.”

Specimen 01, a 3D model for printing in clay that incorporates some design aspects from gen AI results.

Specimen 04.

Specimen 06.

After some intitial tests of prototype moulds, I 3D printed a final set of hollow forms in recycled clay leftover from my studio practice, using my self-built clay printer and a larger WASP 2040 Clay. The clay 3D prints were then bisque fired and brought to a hot shop where they were used as moulds for Marie’s blown glass. The process destroys the clay object, but pieces of clay can sometimes stay embedded in the blown glass, adding an unexpected, tactile dimension to the surface. 

While our experiments are still ongoing, some of Marie’s resulting blown glass works from our collaboration can be seen on permanent display in Middelfart Public Hospital, in Middelfart, DK. 

3D printed clay moulds, unfired recycled clay.

3D printed clay mould, unfired recycled clay.

Clay mould in sand ready for hot glass.

Releasing the glass from the mould.

In the workshop.