As part of the research project 'HEART OF GLASS' by ECAL, the mould machine project was developed to research new materials for mould building and inventing new technologies of glass casting. In iterative steps new materials and techniques where combined to investigate the properties of the materials and possible reactions to different casting temperatures, durations and procedures.

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In our first series of experiment we set the goal to infuse air or gas into the glass. We used salt as a mould material and shaped it by moistening it and drying it quickly. Through its structure and strong heat expansion rate the salt emits a uniform field of bubbles into the glass. Depending on the duration of the tempering the bubbles set off into the glass or shape the lower surface of the object.

In our first series of experiment we set the goal to infuse air or gas into the glass. We used salt as a mold material and shaped it by moistening it and drying it quickly. Through its structure and strong heat expansion rate the salt emits a uniform field of bubbles into the glass. Depending on the duration of the tempering, the bubbles set off into the glass or only shape the lower surface of the object.

The goal of the second series of experiment was to create a effective technique to create moulds which shape interleaving objects. In the first moulding processes different materials of various thicknesses where tested for heat insulation characteristics. In the next step we developed a simple technique to manually create modular shapes. The modules where cut by hand and joined with heat insulating glue and steel needles. After the shape was ready, a hole was drilled into the highes point of the mould to pour in the liquid glass.