Tumbleweed

About the work

Tumbleweed is a series of spherical glass forms modeled on Russian thistle, the plant that dries, breaks from its root and rolls across the open ground of the inland West each autumn. The glass version keeps the plant’s structure: hundreds of thin curved branches, each fused to its neighbors, enclosing a volume that is mostly air.

Each branch is drawn from borosilicate rod over a torch, bent while soft and joined to the branch before it. The finished form is one continuous piece of glass. Borosilicate expands about one third as much as ordinary soda-lime glass when heated, which allows dense clusters of joints and makes the material suitable for work placed outdoors.

Light passes through the branches and gathers at every joint, so the form reads differently in low sun, overcast light and at night under a single source.

Tumbleweed forms can be made at a range of sizes for interiors, gardens and public landscapes, as single pieces or in groups.

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