And the rest of the pics...
Mar. 24th, 2006 12:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
calic0catI've only been doing fused glass work for a few months. It's pretty cool to work with, but I have to have it fired at the shop since I don't have a kiln (or the spare grand or two to buy one). As long as only one firing is needed, however, it isn't too expensive to get a shelf full of items done, and classes automatically include all materials and kiln costs. So, here's a few things that I've done.
The first picture gives a better look at the pattern created by the glass pieces, the second gives a better look at the shape of the slumped centre. It started out as a perfectly flat square of clear glass. Each coloured shape is a separate piece of glass that was cut and laid on top of the clear base. The narrow, zig-zag-y pieces are narrow glass straws that were heated over a candle and bent into shape. In some places, the glass was stacked three or four layers thick. Glass naturally seeks its "ideal" thickness, so the irregularities smooth out in the kiln as it heats. This bowl required two firings: one to fuse the different glass together (still as a flat square), and a second to "slump" it into a bowl. In order to create the bowl shape, a mold (basically a square with a hole cut out of the middle of it) must be cut from a special fibreboard. The glass lays over top of the mold (the edges of the glass must remain solidly on the mold) and, as the kiln heats, the glass will "slump" down into the hole, forming the bowl. This is a very shallow bowl (only deep enough for keys and loose change, maybe candy), but they can be made deeper. If the shape doesn't turn out as desired, it can be fired again to flatten it back out, then fired yet again to re-slump it. But since each firing costs about $35, I'm not likely to go get this re-fired to make it deeper. *sweatdrops* It's already a $70 holder for loose change; I don't think I want to try for $140.
Three fused glass pendants. Each has a minimum of three layers of glass (the clear top and coloured (or clear or iridized) bottom sandwich in the middle one of smaller pieces). The green pendant has flakes of silver leaf in it. You can't really tell from the picture, but that pendant went a little cloudy on top for some reason. Glass fusing is like that: even experienced people get unexpected results sometimes. The orange pendant has little air bubbles in it, which look kind of neat (the bottom layer of glass had a textured side which was facing up and helped create some bubbles). The black pendant had a layer of very thin iridized and textured clear glass between the bottom layer and the black pieces (which are also slightly iridized). Interestingly enough, the iridized layer of the black ended up a little smaller than the black itself (either the iridized layer shrank or the black expanded), creating another neat effect. After these were fused, a groove was ground around the outside edge of each, in order to wire it so that it could be put on a necklace.
And here's the last one: a fused glass snowflake suncatcher. You can see more clearly here how the green iridized glass did the same neat separating trick that the black did in the pendant. Judging by this one, it looks like the glass expanded and the iridized layer held its shape (since I know it started out as a triangle). Every cut piece of glass in this was a triangle originally. The tiny scattered bits of green and the cloudy pale green on the very dark (almost black) triangles were glass flakes (they come in a bottle). They didn't fuse quite as nicely - there's a couple of rough spots on the surface of those triangles. Something to remember for future reference - the flakes/chips/powder (they come in more than one size) seem to work best with a solid layer above as well as below.
The first picture gives a better look at the pattern created by the glass pieces, the second gives a better look at the shape of the slumped centre. It started out as a perfectly flat square of clear glass. Each coloured shape is a separate piece of glass that was cut and laid on top of the clear base. The narrow, zig-zag-y pieces are narrow glass straws that were heated over a candle and bent into shape. In some places, the glass was stacked three or four layers thick. Glass naturally seeks its "ideal" thickness, so the irregularities smooth out in the kiln as it heats. This bowl required two firings: one to fuse the different glass together (still as a flat square), and a second to "slump" it into a bowl. In order to create the bowl shape, a mold (basically a square with a hole cut out of the middle of it) must be cut from a special fibreboard. The glass lays over top of the mold (the edges of the glass must remain solidly on the mold) and, as the kiln heats, the glass will "slump" down into the hole, forming the bowl. This is a very shallow bowl (only deep enough for keys and loose change, maybe candy), but they can be made deeper. If the shape doesn't turn out as desired, it can be fired again to flatten it back out, then fired yet again to re-slump it. But since each firing costs about $35, I'm not likely to go get this re-fired to make it deeper. *sweatdrops* It's already a $70 holder for loose change; I don't think I want to try for $140.
Three fused glass pendants. Each has a minimum of three layers of glass (the clear top and coloured (or clear or iridized) bottom sandwich in the middle one of smaller pieces). The green pendant has flakes of silver leaf in it. You can't really tell from the picture, but that pendant went a little cloudy on top for some reason. Glass fusing is like that: even experienced people get unexpected results sometimes. The orange pendant has little air bubbles in it, which look kind of neat (the bottom layer of glass had a textured side which was facing up and helped create some bubbles). The black pendant had a layer of very thin iridized and textured clear glass between the bottom layer and the black pieces (which are also slightly iridized). Interestingly enough, the iridized layer of the black ended up a little smaller than the black itself (either the iridized layer shrank or the black expanded), creating another neat effect. After these were fused, a groove was ground around the outside edge of each, in order to wire it so that it could be put on a necklace.
And here's the last one: a fused glass snowflake suncatcher. You can see more clearly here how the green iridized glass did the same neat separating trick that the black did in the pendant. Judging by this one, it looks like the glass expanded and the iridized layer held its shape (since I know it started out as a triangle). Every cut piece of glass in this was a triangle originally. The tiny scattered bits of green and the cloudy pale green on the very dark (almost black) triangles were glass flakes (they come in a bottle). They didn't fuse quite as nicely - there's a couple of rough spots on the surface of those triangles. Something to remember for future reference - the flakes/chips/powder (they come in more than one size) seem to work best with a solid layer above as well as below.
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Date: 2006-03-23 11:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-24 05:26 am (UTC)I understand your point about putting things where you're sure to find them, but then where was that? I do it all the time :P
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Date: 2006-03-24 06:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-24 06:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-24 03:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-24 04:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-10 10:15 am (UTC)