Abrasive waterjet cutting in studio glass: a process-based classification of digital fabrication practices

Abrasive waterjet cutting has moved from industrial glass processing into studio-based glass practice, where it is used not only to cut glass but also to prepare moulds and tooling, generate repeatable components and organise internal structures before kiln-forming, casting or hot-glass forming. Despite this development, relevant accounts remain dispersed across doctoral research, conference and technical publications, exhibition documentation and individual artistic practices. This study therefore asks how waterjet cutting has been adapted to studio glass, how its position within a hybrid workflow affects the finished work, and whether recurring material-process relationships can provide a useful classification. The review examines documented cases produced principally between 2000 and 2023. Cases were included when waterjet cutting formed an identifiable part of the fabrication sequence and sufficient information was available to establish the material cut, its position within the workflow, subsequent glass-forming or assembly processes and the function of the cut element. The analysis produces two complementary dimensions. The first distinguishes direct cutting of glass from cutting auxiliary materials and traces both routes into kiln-forming, casting, hot-glass forming, assembly and structural construction. The second identifies four functional modes: direct component generation, mould and tooling preparation, internal structuring, and digital patterning and layered composition. The author's practice with hand-rolled and thick cast glass demonstrates how waterjet cutting can extend beyond profiling regular sheet glass towards thicker, spatially oriented components. The study argues that creative and material significance derives from relationships among digital geometry, cut elements and later processes rather than from cutting accuracy alone. The framework provides a basis for comparative study, teaching and future development of digitally assisted glass practice.