Kiosk – 12 years on Tiree

A collection of images, captured mysteriously in 12 small glass bowls

If you are heading to Lewis this summer Tiree Glass is part of a the group show ‘Kiosk’ on at An Lanntair until August 21. The show pays homage to the concept of a souvenir and the legendry Nicolson’s Kiosk.

How long have you lived here? What’s it like in the winter? What made you move here? The work seeks to answer some of these questions, often asked by visitors to my studio. A collection of images, captured mysteriously in small glass bowls represent the ordinary experiences of 12 years living on Tiree. Each year’s bowl is accompanied by a personal story, sealed in an envelope…….

The images signify that there is no ‘island experience’. Only life with its opportunities and challenges due in part to personality, choice and family upbringing. Life on an island does however provide abundant and sometimes painful opportunities for a ‘new islander’ to grow and learn. Heightened by a remote, interconnected community, huge physical space and raw beauty forcing new ways of being.

Taking part was a very positive and rewarding experience and my thanks go to Hector MacInnes, Philippa C Thomas and Roddy Murray who curated the exhibition and also to Fiona MacRae who interviewed me about my time in Tiree, helping me piece together the stories.

For more about the exhibition see https://lanntair.com/events/event/kiosk-buth-exhibition-on-the-making-of-memories/

The images: 2009 Melting. 2010 Wedding Day. 2011 The Palace. 2012 Distance. 2013 Bouncing Back and Breaking. 2014 Erratic. 2015 What’s it like in the winter? 2016 The Copepods. 2017 Black Market. 2018 What made you move here? 2019 The Camp Collection. 2020 Here but there.

Tiree Glass is down under

We are earthquake strengthening a Heritage Building in the small town of Wairoa on New Zealand’s east coast. Our plan is to create a glass studio, and workshop for Bruce, and to live upstairs. This week the final concrete was poured in the shear walls. Scroll down for the rest of the story so far……

May 2019

The Wairoa Meat Company building was built around 1912. It sat empty and deteriorating for over ten years until we bought it from Scotland in May 2019. The building matched our dream of finding a place to live and work, and a project to keep us occupied as we transition to living back in NZ. We bought the building largely unseen, and began the process of finding an engineer to help us determine the next steps..

The building faces North and overlooks the magnificent Wairoa River. Marine Parade leads down towards the ocean and our building is in the heart of the blossoming East End which includes a fabulous café and the Gaiety cinema/theatre. We had been sent by friends to find Geoff Hole, local legend, who encouraged us to see the building’s potential and kept in touch when we were back in Scotland - buying the building from afar.

September 2019

We knew that the building needed a complete renovation and that earthquake strengthening was a thing in NZ. Buildings need to reach 34% of current building code as a minimum, and 67% to be insurable. Our Detailed Seismic Assessment gave the building a rating of 15% NBS. Our building was officially earthquake prone!!

January 2020 Plans and consents

And so it began, admin time. Luckily for us the building is Heritage Listed and funding is available to help.

applying for Heritage Equip funding to assist with professional advice
commissioning structural scanning and further engineering reports to come up with a design solution. Thanks to Tihau Bishop and Keegan Williams
appointing an architect to provide ‘as is’ drawings and to detail the proposed structural upgrade. Thanks to Antony and Justin Matthews
geotechnical investigation to support the engineering design thanks to LDE Gisborne
commissioning a fire engineer’s plan
applying for Resource Consent thanks to Wairoa District Council Planning Team
applying for Building Consent thanks Wairoa Building Consent Team
commissioning an archaeological report thanks to Elizabeth Pischeif and Wairoa Museum
reapplying to Heritage Equip to assist with the structural upgrade
finding contractors willing to travel to Wairoa thanks to Gemco, Red Steel and Wairoa Roofing
documenting the heritage values and applying to Heritage New Zealand for help with repairs to windows, a fire damaged ceiling and façade and floor repairs. Thanks to Laura Kellaway.

February to October 2020 Deconstruction

Meanwhile we started deconstruction of the interior. All the partitions and freezer bases had to be removed but the big thing was a 300 mm thick concrete over-lay floor. Removing this was a huge mission, We picked away at it daily over winter little by little using metal wedges to lift the floor then whacking it with a sledge hammer. We had amazing help from people with trucks and offering to take the concrete to fill holes. Thanks to Hohepa Osborne, Allan Newton. Pete and Gill and the Yellow Truck. But most of all thanks to Ian Campbell. To date he has removed 49 truckloads of concrete to his land restoration project to make habitat for lizards. And swapped us wild venison and eggs. Some people call him eccentric.

September 2020 Excavation of the ground beams

We removed 19 m3 of soil to excavate ground beams and also removed original reinforced concrete footings. It rained a lot. It felt counter intuitive and precarious! Due to the proximity to Manukanui Pa and other pre-European settlement, archaeological monitoring was carried out during excavation work. There were signs of a fire from an earlier timber building. Otherwise soil was compacted evenly and no traces of previous inhabitant’s lives were found.

Nov- December 2020 Reinforced Shear Wall Construction

Finally we were set to start working with Gemco Construction to install the new reinforced steel foundations front and back, with linked shear walls, which continue through the first floor and into ceiling/roof space. It has been a feat of design and construction skill to create the complex steel network, to build the custom boxing and manage 4 concrete pours in a quirky, fragile old building despite a couple of big rain events. Ten tonnes of steel and 87 tonnes of concrete have been installed. Three new circular windows have been created where it was necessary to block existing openings. We are grateful to Gemco for sharing their expertise with us, and especially to Joseph Taylor and Bryce Tutauha for running the job and staying away from their families from Mon to Thurs for 7 very full weeks. The amount of concrete removed from the building matches the 87 tonnes put back in!

Hebridean Whale Trail Plaques

The new Hebridean Whale Trail celebrates that the ocean around Scotland’s west coast is prime viewing territory to see whales, dolphins and porpoises. The trail features 33 sites across the Hebridean archipelago and aims to encourage low-impact whale-watching from land, a new way of thinking about viewing marine wildlife. People can experience the thrill of watching a fin breaking the surface in the distance, and the challenge of identifying which type of whale they’ve seen. The trail offers interpretation to help and includes 12 special Tiree Glass Whale Trail plaques.

The plaques were made from 3 layers of recycled 4mm float glass, bottle glass was used to create the coloured detailing. A textured base, with the whale motif, was created using ceramic fibre paper. The lettering was achieved by way of screen printed enamel transfers in a separate firing.

I had my own Hebridean journey making the plaques…..It was the first time I had made work using the transfers, or decals to achieve lettering. My first attempt used a digitally printed ceramic decal but the finish was not opaque enough. (They look great fired onto mugs though!). Another set of decals was ordered. This time screen printed glass enamels from BD Transfers in Cornwall. They worked a treat. I fired them at 600 degrees C for 15 minutes, while the plaques were fused at 818 for 10 minutes.

https://whaletrail.org/explore

Cheesecakes on the beach

Casting ripples in the sand, in order to create a glass version, has been a long held ambition. To capture a unique moment in time in a textural form. A cake tin proved a handy test-mould without using up too much raw material.

The basic recipe:·

50% Plaster
50% Flint (or substitute)
Water (one part water in ml for every 1.5 volume of dry mould material in kgs)
Mix til it goes creamy, and pour.

Was really chuffed to find that substituting the flint (ground silica) with used bat wash (shelf primer) seems to work well. Shelf primer is half alumina and half china clay so has good refractory qualities and is a regular part of the studio waste stream.

If the firing goes well, next time I will use a larger rectangular form and be ready for the low tide!

Last few badges remain…

For the last few summers we have been selling these cool safety pin broaches. We donate the funds to multicultural family base https://www.mcfb.org.uk to help their work with children and their families, many of whom are new migrants.

Look out for something new to take their place! Im thinking maybe a fridge magnet version

Recycled glass badge sold to raise funds to help settle new migrants to Edinburgh

Vessels for Syria

Seeing images of people fleeing in flimsy boats is sobering and moving and has a reaffirmed a feeling of how lucky I am to live in a peaceful place.

These prototype glass boats are inspired by the sense of vulnerability, but also of hope that the images stir in me. Made from a single sheet of bottle glass, the plan is to allow people to own a unique piece of sustainable art, and make a contribution towards a refugee support charity. Hopefully this will be cathartic for me, and for the people who buy them and also help to raise some funds.

"You have to understand that nobody puts their children in a boat unless the water is safer than the land." Warsan Shire, Poet, Author, Immigrant.

Carry on collecting

Balemartine - sea glass central ('there was a midden for the Township at the top of the beach in front of the houses') — Balemartine - sea glass central ('*there was a midden for the Township at the top of the beach in front of the houses*')

One of the pleasures of winter on Tiree is a daily walk to the sea. Although the days are short and wild, there is more time for foraging, as the studio is only open by appointment. Inspired by Sophie Morrish's exhibition 'Biomass' at Taigh Chearsabagh in North Uist, I have been making vessels for my collection of sea glass and sea glass words.

Detail from Sophie Morrish : Biomass an array of objects collected on North Uist

The first set of vessels were slumped over bat-washed sea bricks in an attempt to get a sea-worn feel. All the glass slumped over these bricks thermal shocked, and so I tried again making blocks from vermiculite. Interestingly a Lewisian gniess rock under the same conditions acted as a successful mould. (Lewisian gneiss, at 3 billion years old, is one of the oldest rocks in Britain and is common on Tiree).

Five layers of 2mm picture framing off cuts stacked for fusing

Fused at 813 degrees for 14 minutes

This word cloud includes words from everyone who donated sea glass associated words

Thanks to everyone who responded to my call for words that they associate with sea glass. I used some of them to make this bowl.

Sea Glass bowl with Fiona Macrae's words "tumbled over and over, sand blasted to summer sea green" — Sea Glass bowl with Fiona Macrae's words *"tumbled over and over, sand blasted to summer sea green"*

Collecting sea glass is compelling, addictive, contemplative and free! The gently sea worn glass discarded over generations is tactile and ephemeral, shifting with the daily tides, abundant after storms or scarce under deposits of sand or seaweed.

It is not really suitable for using in kiln forming, although I have had some success with small pieces in simple hangers. In terms of compatibility it is not as reliable as more recently manufactured bottle glass and some of it is very 'stiff'. But I will carry on collecting and experimenting.

Animal Friends

Taking part in a Structural Slumping course with Lisa Pettibone inspired me to make these new friends. The creatures were slumped over refractory moulds created using an old face-mask .

Whole House Reuse Exhibition

My work was included in the first exhibition held in the newly re-opened Canterbury Museum, Christchurch, New Zealand, featuring work of over 250 artists who recycled an entire house that was damaged beyond repair in the 2011 Christchurch earthquake. Small pieces of window glass from the house were posted to Tiree from NZ and the work based on patterns in the original lead light windows were posted back for display and auction. I used up every bit of glass they sent!

http://www.wholehousereuse.co.nz/tableware/

Weather watching

‘What’s it like in the winter?’ This piece provides a visual answer by representing actual sunshine hours for the month of January for the 6 winters I have spent on Tiree. It starts with January 2015, moving back to January 2010. The six winter months are juxtaposed with actual sunshine hours for a single June, in 2009. Its quite seasonal here!

Bottle glass being prepared for fusing onto pre-drilled 6mm float

Hanging the finished piece in reverse gives each sunshine hour a little halo and gives the piece depth.

Fictional Cartography

A magnetic map of Balinoe Township. Mounted on a spray painted tumble drier lid from the dump. Sold now but it was quite handy to direct people to Chocolate and Charms.

5mm float off-cuts sandwiched with bottle glass

Houses, tracks and roads, skylines, lochs, fields and bogs, and coastlines make up my daily world

A Balinoe-centric view of Tiree

My place and the Crossroads at Helipol

Blocks from bottles

Inspired by Atalier NL I have made a series of blocks from bottles.

Atalier NL experiment with sand collected from around the Netherlands to challenge the conventions of industry by using non-pure sands for glass making. My project is similarly unconventional creating glass blocks from layers of glass carefully annealed from used bottles.

AtalierNL Sandbank 2010

Preparing bottles for processing

Creating flat sheets in the kiln

Ta-daa! Alchemy!

Simple mould with vermiculite dams

Ready for firing

Bottle glass sheets cut to size

‘Sand, Potassium Carbonate and Lime’. Detail of 13 blocks mounted with a concealed wall mount

Each block is made from an individual bottle. Some have significance due to their history; the people who brought them to me, or memories of the occasion that their contents lubricated. Once transformed into a block they have tactile appeal and visual interest with varying opacity.

The raw materials mined to make glass are honoured through a process of transformation and renewal.

spring

It has been a sunny day and the island is turning greener by the moment. Here are some gardens that have sprouted in the gallery.

baking at 810 degrees

Here are some new fridge magnets before and after baking at 810 degrees for 12 minutes.

Collecting

Starting to think about a sea glass/collecting project and brought home these sea-washed bricks from the beach. The plan is to dry them out and prime them to use as sea formed moulds to slump small vessels to hold collections of sea glass.

I have also asked ten friends to give me words and memories that they associate with sea glass and so far have some lovely ones. Planning to print and kiln-carve some word samples. Then I will think about some bigger vessels with words and stories within them to contain the precious sea glass collections.

From a winter gone by. I like the carry handle. Not sure they make them like this anymore

Slave for the day

Jennie and Lyn came up to the studio for a workshop. This was part of a 'slave auction' in aid of Curam a Tiree community organisation. We had a good time and they made lots of beautiful things.

Glass Heap Challenge - artists and rubbish collide

I had no idea what to expect when I chose to attend a ten-day long Glass Heap Challenge in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, in October 2014. But I knew I had to make the time and money to go. It was the first time I had seen glass training advertised that specialised in recycled glass.

Beeldenstorm venue for the Glass Heap Challenge 2014

It was Dutch Design Week - a feast of design events held every year in Eindhoven. It was a great thing being in a vibrant town after a summer on Tiree. Trains, planes and even a mini road trip back to Amsterdam via the Glass Museum in Leerdam was another treat.

The Challenge itself was a huge surprise in lots of ways. The event was advertised as a master class in recycled glass with emphasis on skill-sharing and finding new ways to work with the copious volumes of waste glass that exist, but there were differences in styles and approach of the 3 masters. There was a push for personal artistic development of participants and this felt a bit overwhelming at times.

There were 10 participants, a great group of people with a fabulous range of skills. Product designers, architects, technicians and artists although only two of us had previous experience with glass, all were professional in their fields and wanting to explore working with waste glass. I was surprised that some of the masters were using non-recycled glass as a teaching resource. I wondered if this would limit our learning, or conflict with the aim of pushing boundaries, gathering waste material and learning from one another about the recycled resource. But everyone taking part had brought glass for recycling and was fully up for experimentation so there was plenty of recycling, idea generation and skill-sharing going on.

The event was held at Beeldenstorm, an open access aluminum and bronze casting studio. Glass making was new to Beeldenstorm and the Glass Heap Challenge was their showcase for Dutch Design Week. These circumstances added a layer of politics to the management of the event.

I was very pleased to meet Matt Duran the founder of the Glass Heap Challenge who had a fantastic practical and inspiring approach helping us to realise what could be achieved working with recycled glass, and helping us to experiment and progress in a fun and gentle way. Glass making can be very technique based and working in recycled glass can bring another layer of complexity.

A question was posed “why work with glass?” Along with the assertion that the answer to this question is imperative before art making can proceed. “You have to know why you are working with glass” But my answer is only because it is there, in abundance and I love it as a material. It was all a bit terrifying but ultimately I hope that the debate and tension will be helpful to me.

I left inspired and have woken up in the mornings dreaming about form and flow in glass. I am going to make some new things……..and hope to build on the experience by being part of a community that shares information about glass upcycling.

Whats it like in the winter?

The wind has been busy all day and all last night weaving grass into the fences.

Tiree in the winter is pretty special. Especially if your job doesn’t involve working outside. Luckily mine means I can grab walks whenever there is a weather window to explore the beaches after they have been ravaged by the storms. Its fresh and exciting with amazing light. Winter is a chance to recharge after the summer when the days are so long and full.

Relentless wind picking up last summers grass and weaving it into the fences

Garden

2014 was a good season in the garden. Discovered that the best way to grow rocket here is to plant it late – August is good. Its lasted outside until this big December storm. The last of the courgettes got picked in October. We still have lots of carrots, swede and greens. Lucky, as there aren’t any in the Co. this week. The boat didn’t get in because of the storms.

Sweet Williams grown from seed they take 2 seasons to flower

September - Cabbages do really well on Tiree

A flock of awards

Glass awards for wonderful local events. The Commonwealth Carnival in July, Tiree's first ultra marathon in September and Fasanta Oban's Festival of Textile and Fashion in October. Hand cutting the logos and lettering for the kiln carved designs is a mission but the effect is stunning. Read more about award manufacture.

Tiree Ultra is held again in September 2015