My name is Eric Sarachman I am currently working as an independent artist/designer with glass and glassblowing as my main focal point. I’ve had

an intense fascination with science and phenomenon for as long as I can remember but my first true appreciation for a creative process came in

the medium of spray paint. I was exposed to a certain technique of using spray paint to create incredibly vivid depictions of landscapes with dynamic galaxies and planets filling the sky. 

Through much experimentation with this medium, I discovered the paint could be layered in a certain way that would make the top layer  literally rip open to reveal the color underneath in a very visually interesting way.

I even went so far as create an entire calendar using this imagery while completing my undergraduate degree in Visual Communications. 

Shortly after completing this calendar I took my first glassblowing class and, again, I was completely inspired by the process and all the possibilities it represented. During this time, I watched as many glassblowing videos as I could find. Luckily, I watched a live streamed demonstration by Micke Johansson where he used a technique called a Swedish Overlay to put solid layers of colored glass directly on the surface of a piece. He subsequently used copious amounts of heat to cause the top layer of colored glass to literally rip open revealing the color underneath and creating a very distinct texture. I was amazed how similar this texture was to what I had been seeing in my spray paint experiments. Fortunately, I was able to attend a class taught by Richard Royal the next summer. I this class the Swedish Overlay technique was a main focus and I was able to do my first Swedes.

Since this class, taken in 2019, I have been experimenting with this technique, trying to figure out the exact reason the glass behaves in this way and what conditions/environments the glass must be in for this texture to occur. I knew from the Micke Johansson demonstration that chemical reactions between the different colors of glass played a big part as well as an intense amount of heat applied to the glass, to encourage the reaction. While I have taken a number of chemistry classes, some at the collegiate level, I am by no means a chemist. After much trial and error I have been able to create the texture I have been searching for and I have scratched the surface on why it occurs and how to create the conditions necessary for the reaction to occur.