Yesterday I wrote about my new-to-me bigger kiln and a brief bit about fusing glass. It is a slow process, requiring multiple firings in the kiln. Each firing takes 8-12 hours.
Working on the torch, I use a kiln to cool down the glass in a slow and controlled manner. All of the work on the glass is done in the flame. I have a good idea of how it will turn out.
With fused glass, the process starts with designing a piece and cutting out the glass, but then it all comes together in the kiln, largely out of view. This is stressful as I am starting out, relying on books and online info to make sure I am on the right track. ?
A piece-in-progress
I have used my torch to melt glass into ‘flowing’ grass and jellyfish tentacle pieces seen above.
I will fuse these elements on a base glass that I have created. To make the base glass:
- I have fused little pieces of glass into round shapes – bubbles.
- Then I fused a piece of clear glass that I drew on with glass powder to suggest ‘water’ and added in the bubbles from step 1.
- And finally(!), I fused the watery sheet with bubbles onto a base sheet of glass that had some blue swirls. I added a few of my torchworked pieces for a layering effect.
And now to put it all together
Next up, I will add and fuse the piece again to add the focal point on this piece – a jellyfish swimming in the currents.
I plan to do a ‘soft fuse’ so the jelly will be softly raised from the surface. Fingers crossed! Risks include cracking/breaking on the ramp up or down to the process temperature.
Bigger than a beadbox
This piece measures 5″ x 9.5″.
That isn’t huge, but it is so fun to have a larger canvas to work on. I will post followup photos on the blog once the final piece is out of the kiln in a day or so.
Follow up
The story continues. Click here to read the Journey of the Jelly to find out how this fused glass project turned out.