The art of Preston Singletary has become synonymous with the relationship between European glass blowing traditions and Northwest Native art. His artworks feature themes of transformation, animal spirits and shamanism through elegant blown glass forms and mystical sand carved Tlingit designs.
The process for making the glass baskets is complex - it involves first blowing the
glass form with two layers of glass (for example: a cream color over red) and
wrapping a bead of hot glass around the lip.
When the basket has cooled, a stencil is applied to the surface, to create the larger basket designs, and then strips of custom-made tape are applied over the stencil, first vertically, then horizontally in a spiral in order to create the basket weave design. The whole surface is deeply sandblasted (called sand-carving) once, then the spiral of tape is removed, then it is sandblasted a second time, and finally, the vertical lines of tape are removed.
Everything that is covered with the stencil is not exposed to the sandblasting process. After the last sand blasting, the entire stencil is removed to reveal the textured basket design.
Finally, it is given a light sandblasting (called frosting) and coated with a special finish called Liquid Luster, to protect the now porous glass and give it its characteristic low sheen.
