Into the third dimension
Published in Hamilton Press, written by Geoff LewisDi Tocker has shifted from two to three dimensions with a move into glass casting.
Tocker started in glass as a hobbyist in lead-lighting about 20 years ago in Tauranga. Passion for the work took her to Australia, then England, and back to Australia where she gained a bachelors degree in fine arts, majoring in glass, from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.
After 11 years away she returned to New Zealand in 2002 with husband Mike and two children. She continued working in the lead-lighting industry with Leadlight Products in Frankton where she was involved with manufacturing and tutoring. Tocker had considered glass casting a bit beyond her until she met Colleen Ryan-Priest.
Hamilton based Ryan-Priest was working as the only art-glass caster in Hamilton.
Tocker and Ryan-Priest met through the leadlight shop and again at the sculpture symposium during the Hamilton Gardens Summer Festival. Since, the two have worked together and Tocker works from Ryan-Priests garage-studio. Tocker and Ryan-Priest have also met up with Matangi bronze caster John Taris and plan a collaborative exhibition possibly next year.
Glass casting is an expensive and technically demanding business. Using the lost wax technique, the process begins when a form is carved from a block of wax. Layers of plaster, silica flour and fibreglass matting are built up around the wax in walls that can be up to 70mm and seven layers thick.
The wax is then steamed out and the mould is propped up in the kiln with the opening at the top. Lead crystal glass fragments, calculated around the volume of the mould, are packed into a common garden terracotta pot which then empties itself into the mould as the heat in the kiln rises and the glass melts.
The mould remains in the kiln from 10 days to 3 weeks, depending on the size of the cast piece to ensure the mould is completely dry before glass begins to pour. The piece is then cooled slowly and annealed to enable the glass to withstand changes in temperature without cracking.
Three pieces of Di Tocker's abstract figure-form work have been selected for entry into the New Zealand Affordable Art Show in Wellington in August. The show, held in the TSB Events Centre, is designed to enable people on ordinary budgets access to work by high-profile New Zealand.
Examples of Tocker's work can be seen in the Toi Toi Gallery in the Grey St shopping centre.