The first step in making a fused glass dish is to take pieces of glass and place them on a shelf in the kiln and fully fuse the pieces to make a single flat piece of glass. In this process the side of glass that is against the kiln shelf will always have some texture. It picks up the texture from the glass separator that keeps the glass from sticking to the shelf. The kiln shelf side also has a matte finish while the top side is glossy. In the next step the piece is slumped into a mold with either side up, but normally the glossy side up. On this piece I chose to slump it with the kiln shelf side up. At the end of this post is a picture with pieces ready to be slumped where you can see the difference. Two of the pieces are kiln shelf side up.

Unfortunately I was disappointed with the result. The matte finish was not consistently even. In some areas it looked less matte. My guess is it had something to do with the mold being thicker in those areas retaining more heat. I can’t really be sure. But I was sure that I didn’t like it. So the piece went back into the kiln for a third time. The now slumped piece was slowly heated to let it fall flat again. The fourth and final slumping had a much better result. Almost perfect! Yes, almost. When the piece slumped down into the mold one side was lower than the other. Possible reasons for this include heating too quickly, the piece was too large for the mold, or the opalescent glass slumped down before the transparent glass. It is not very noticeable, but enough so that this piece won’t be for sale in my shop.

If you are a fused glass beginner and a subscriber to Bullseye Glass Education on line check out the video lesson Slumping Basics. If you you are not a subscriber learn more here: Bullseye Kiln-glass Education Online

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While none of my pieces are exactly stunning, I did learn a lot about the different techniques and I am looking forward to trying these out again. The value in a class like this is not only do you learn from your own project, but you also learn from all of the other students projects.

In class we experimented with “boiled” glass, pressed glass, using frit, inclusions, flexi-glass, glass line paints and “sand” tapestry. There were also several demos including using Castalot and fiber blanket to make your own molds, screen melts, incorporating rocks into a design, and much more. All of these ideas will keep me busy for quite some time to come.

I also spent some time on the show floor. All the big name vendors were there. I stopped by the Toyo booth and they helped me out with a problem I was having with my glass cutter. In my opinion, they have the best glass cutters out there. I visited with Devon at the Bullseye Booth. She has corresponded with me by email several times helping me with a technical issue. It was nice to finally meet her. I bought some display stands like the one in the picture from Roz Stanton’s booth. In general, I don’t think there were a lot of bargains to be had, especially if you buy wholesale. I found only one or two vendors giving out product samples. The best deal for me was on the final day of the show when I stopped by Slumpy’s and bought a mold at 50% off.

The Expo is a lot of fun and it’s a great excuse to plan a getaway to Las Vegas. The only thing I wish they had was some sort of get together so artist who sell their work could mingle and share ideas.

I would also like to say, “thank you” to Bullseye Glass for their generous donations of class materials and Skutt Kilns for providing the kilns. It is greatly appreciated!

This weekend I had a group come to the studio to make some fused glass crosses. I precut the base for the class and wanted to glue the wire loops down so they wouldn’t have to fuss with this part. On the advice of the people who make HoneyDoo Zupper Glue I stored my opened bottle of glue in the refrigerator. This was supposed to increase the longevity of the glue. I had not used the glue in probably 6 months. Unfortunately the glue was just one dried up glob of glue in the bottle. Perhaps six months was too much time to ask for. Oh well, no worries… I had a spare unopened bottle. I opened it but the glue wouldn’t flow out of the bottle. It was a thick globby mess.  Grrrr!!! This product had so much promise. Unfortunately this glue seems to have a very short shelf life, and once opened it doesn’t last long at all.

Update (4/15/13) – At the Glass Craft and Bead Expo last week I stopped by the Streuter Technologies booth and pitched my idea for small one-time-use tubes of Zupper Glue. They said they would consider it and call it Margot’s Glue. Ha! Somehow I don’t think they took me too seriously.

At Slumpy’s year-end blowout sale I bought a Ripple Bowl mold for less than $11! What a deal. This enticed me to pull out my circle cutter. I cut two circles out of clear glass. One of the circles broke down the middle, but no worries! I put that circle on the bottom. I then sifted several colors of glass powder over the second circle and used a tool to “draw” squiggle lines. I saw this technique on one of the Bullseye Online Education videos. I full fused the layers and then did a second firing, a flip and fire, so that the seam that was on the bottom from the broken circle completely vanished. In the third and last firing I slumped the circle over the Ripple Bowl mold.

I have really enjoyed experimenting with glass powders. Now I need to invest in some more glass powders to expand my palette of colors!

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Here is a another video on cutting circles in a language I don’t understand. I have know Idea what they are saying, but they sure are laughing a lot and having fun! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzjpTDxTmqg

I have experimented with paints before. You can read about it here . For me, the paints that come in the squeeze type bottles were hard to work with. Just as I was mulling this over I got an advertisement from Slumpy’s. They were having a great sale and one of the items on sale was Marabu Painter Pens. I had not heard of them before and decided to give it a try. I ordered 6 different colors. A few of the pens that I received had some problems. On one the tip was off. On another the tip wouldn’t prime with the paint. I sent them back and Slumpy’s quickly replaced them.

With pens in hand I stared at my blank glass canvas. I seemed to have the glass artist’s equivalent of writer’s block. I couldn’t think of what design to draw on the spoon rest. An additional challenge was that these pens are used after the piece is slumped. That means painting on a surface that isn’t flat. For days I tried to come up with something that would look good. I tried swirls and squiggles, lines and dots, and in the end, I decided to keep it simple. My favorite is the dots; the customer’s favorite was the Bon Appetit one.

So now for the bad news…

The directions say the paint is, “dishwasher-safe at a maximum 122°F after 3 days.” However, the recommended temperature for dishwashers is between 120°F and 150°F. So I would hand wash only.

There are also conflicting directions. The directions online say – the drying time of 3 days can be reduced to 30 minutes at 100°C (212°F) in the oven. But the paint pens themselves say a temperature of 170°C (328°F) for 30 minutes in an ordinary oven. Putting a slumped wine bottle in a cold oven and heating to 328°F will result in a cracked bottle. I, of course, suspected this but to be sure I had to prove it! From now on I will heat slowly to 212°F in the kiln.

You can find the pens here: http://www.slumpys.com/Search?keyword=marabu

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Here are the first few part sheets I created. I will definitely be making more of these. Part sheets are a great way to make my work different and unique. Tomorrow I will cut these up and combine them with other glass to make one of a kind plates.

I have mentioned the Bullseye Online Education program before. There are some free videos which are good, but I think the paid subscription is worth every penny. Whether you use Spectrum glass or Bullseye glass, the techniques can be used with either. I use Spectrum 96 and simply adjust the firing schedule to Spectrum’s suggested anneal schedule. Here is some more information:

- A 12-month subscription is $39.
- 12 new videos are published every year.
- Subscription also gives you access to the complete library of lessons – more than 35 so far.
- Each lesson includes downloadable firing schedules, product lists, and helpful links. There’s also a discussion area for connecting with other subscribers.

You can check it out by clicking on the link below:

This project is the first time I will be constructing four of the same design. I originally thought I would build one at a time. I quickly decided, however, that it would be more efficient if I constructed them simultaneously. Not only would this save some time, but it would also make sure that all of my lead cuts are consistent. To make this happen I had to set up my work table with some extra wood strips at right angles.

The table is set, the glass is cut and I’m ready to start constructing. This is always the most time consuming part of the process. You can follow my progress on my Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/glassartbymargot

For these pieces I also cold-worked the edges before the Flip & Fire. These are 9mm pieces that were dammed in the initial full fuse. I used strips of fiber paper around the perimeter that were slightly less than 9mm high; but I still had some needling around the edges. I should have made my fiber paper strips even shorter closer to 6mm. I had to grind the edges to clean up the rough areas. I also sandblast the side that will face up just to be sure there is no kiln wash or shelf paper residue anywhere.

The kiln is clicking away as I type this…. Hopefully all will be wonderful when I check in the morning!

This piece has had a long journey. It started out as one thing and ended up something completely different. Along the way I had some issues that required reworking the piece and then some more reworking. Rather than call these mistakes, I prefer to think of these pieces as learning opportunities. This piece taught me a lot!

Always set up the monitor to hear the alarm.

My original plan was to make night lights. I have made night lights like the one pictured here by recycling glass from other projects. I break the pieces up and contour fuse them. Recently I had a lot of glass and thought it would be more productive if I laid out the glass in a long piece that I would cut and fire polish in another step. Unfortunately, I didn’t set up the monitor to hear the alarm when the kiln reached process temperature. I thought I would remember to check back… I totally missed it. By the time I checked, the glass was almost at a full fuse. This was not the look I wanted.

Be flexible and implement a plan B.

I hate to waste glass, so I went to plan B. I cut the pieces to use as a pattern bar with other glass. The full fuse worked great.

Take the time to coldwork edges.

After the full fuse, there were a few areas along the edge that were a bit rough. I hoped that they would smooth out during the slump. They didn’t. I now had a slumped piece with unacceptable edges.

Don’t take short cuts.

So I wondered what would happen if I ground the edges, put it back into the mold and ran another slump cycle with a bit higher process temperature to fire polish the edges. Anyone want to guess what happened? … Not only did the piece distort out of shape, but my mold cracked as well. There are those that claim slumping and fire polishing can be done in one step. My conclusion, however, is doing it in two separate steps yields superior results.

Don’t’ give up.

At this point I was very tempted to throw the whole thing out! But it gave me the opportunity to do some more experimenting answering some “wonder what would happen if…. “ questions. At this point I really had nothing to lose. I placed the already slumped piece back into the kiln and let it “slump” flat. Then, with my tile saw, I cut it to square it up. The top was fairly smooth, but the back of the piece was pretty rough. I sandblasted it, and did a flip and fire to get everything nice and shiny again. The last step was another slump.

Phew! I think I’ve lost count on how many times this piece was in the kiln! A total of seven times if you include the intial firing of the night light turned pattern bar.

I really like the look of a delicate snowflake. I made these with ¼” strips of glass which is about as narrow as I can cut them. But, I decided that these are too delicate. Because these are made with a single layer of glass, they “shrink up” and end up being a bit thinner than the cut size of the glass. Next time I will make the strips at least 3/8” and yes, 1/8” will make a difference.

To make assembling these easier, I used HoneyDoo Zuper glue. I assembled each of the six “stems” of the snowflake separately using a very small dot of the glue to instantly hold the small little “arm” pieces onto the stem. The small “arms” need to overlap the long stem. I used a pattern to build each stem on making it easier to place the pieces consistently. Each stem was then placed on the kiln shelf with the small “arm” pieces down against the shelf. The glue will dissolve before the snowflake is fully fused. By placing the pieces on the shelf with the little pieces down, I don’t have to worry about them slipping off.

I fired these as fast as possible to my full fuse temperature. I held them for about 5 minutes. Next time I will go a little hotter or hold longer so that they round out a bit more.

To hang the snowflake, I glued half of a fishing hook swivel thingie to the back. I tried a jewelry bail, but didn’t like the way it looked. Next time I may try to fuse a piece of wire into the piece, but it is kind of nice that it swivels. I have two cup hooks screwed into the top of my window with a skinny rod going across them. Then I added some silver ribbon and hung the snowflakes from the rod.

Maybe by next year I will have this perfected enough that I can actually have some for sale.

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