Abstract: Silica glass articles of complex shape are provided by a gel machining process wherein a silicate solution is first cast into a mold of simple shape and gelled to a fully crosslinked wet gel body, and the wet gel body is thereafter removed from the mold and machined by grinding, drilling, core drilling, water jet cutting or the like to provide a wet gelled shape of the complex configuration desired. The complex wet gel shape is then dried and consolidated, with no change in configuration (except for shrinkage), to provide a unitary crack-free glass article retaining the shape of the machined gel.