Elegant Fused Glass by Karen - May 2015 Newsletter!!

May 2015 Newsletter

In this edition:

- Fresh From the Kiln

- Upcoming Events & Sales!

- May Blogs * blogs will now only be on

Elegant fused glass not Fused Elegance for more information read this blog.

- Did you know ...

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UPCOMING EVENTS:

I don't have an event for June as of right now. If I do schedule one I will send out a special notice.

In June, I am going to take a class from the world renown glass artist and the father of the crackle technique Bob Leatherbarrow and I must tell you I'm very excited. So you will see a few blog posts about my trip and about Bob.

I've updated my Etsy site and am working on updating my Elegant Fused Glass and Art Fire sites.

If you have any questions or need anything including any of the fused glass pieces from my blogs below just email me at

elegantfusedglass@gmail.com

Fresh From the Kiln:

May's Fresh From The Kiln

There is so much going on with this fused glass bowl I can't believe it. I'm not sure if you can tell just how stunning this piece is. It's got silver, pebbles and reaction. Plus it's a beautiful shade of emerald green. Not to mention I draped it over a mold of my own making. What …Read more.

Fused Glass Cherry Blossom Tree Night Lights

A month or so ago at one of my shows, my daughter (Sky) was helping me set up my Fused Glass. As she was unwrapping my Fused Glass night lights she was looking at my aspens and she was talking about how beautiful they were but she wished I'd make a cherry blossom tree. Sky really loves the Japanese culture …Read more.

May's Fused Glass Webinar Review

Every month I do a review on a book, video, Webinar, etc regarding fused glass or anything connected to fused glass. In March I wrote a review about the Webinar Wednesday club through Ceramic Arts. The review I did in Fused Glass Webinar Review was about iridized glass by Cara, this one is about Fused Glass …Read more.

Fused Glass Picture Frames

Since it's Mother's day I thought I'd do a blog about something I can never get enough of and that's is frames for pictures. I hope all you mom's out there have a fabulous day!! As a mom I love pictures of my kids so I thought I'd do a blog about various ways to display your snapshots using fused …

Are we in the Glass Age?

This blog is a little different, albeit I felt compelled to share these two videos that I watched recently. I think I've made it clear throughout my newsletters and my blogs that I love glass. I've even mentioned numerous times in my blogs that I have glass from all over the world (including: Germany, Rome, Venice, Ireland, the Czech Republic, …Read more.

Flameworking Artist

Oh my goodness I just met the best woman her name is Leslie, and she's a flamework artist / instructor! For those of you who follow me you know I create fused glass artwork. However, I've always found flameworking fascinating. I was lucky enough to watch John Veit create a marble once on one of my many trips to Florida …Read more.

May Fused Glass Flowers

The first full week of May brought a lot of rain for Colorado Springs. And even though the saying goes "April showers bring May flowers" after watching Cara's video (in my May fused glass review) I thought I'd make some fused glass flowers for May. Following Cara's instructions it …Read more.

Fused Glass Footed Vase

Every month I've been writing blogs about my myriad of fused glass molds. Recently I watch a video on how to use a mold that connects a fused glass drop vase to a base. I like fused glass drop vases and have tried several. Some I've cut …Read more.

More than another Great Fused Glass Artist

I am so blessed to know so many amazing artists. Yesterday, I met an incredible fused glass, stain glass, and mold artist, his name is Paul Hathcoat. He has been a stain glass and a fused glass artist for over 30 years. Sadly he is going out of business after 30 years of dedication to glass art. Part of the …

Did you know ...

This section will be used to answer any questions you may have or to pass on tidbits of information that add value and enhance knowledge regarding fused glass, metals, or jewelry in general. Let me know if you have anything you'd like me to include.

May's "Did You Know" is about a glass technique. Did you know that glass can be created using glass powder, water, a mold, the freezer, and of course a kiln.

It's true and very fun. You may ask why would you want to create fused glass this way. There are many reasons. Two of the typical ways to create fuse glass are either putting frit in a cast mold and fuse it in the kiln or fusing glass together, then cutting shapes out of the glass blank. However, as I've mentioned in other newsletter DYK articles, glass likes to be 6mm thick, with freeze and fuse there are so many more options.

First the shapes and designs are endless! The molds that can be used include; candy molds (for handmade candy), soap molds (for handmade soap) or even ice cube molds.

*All of the molds picture I've actually used in some of my freeze and fuse pieces.

After choosing a mold, I choose the frit. With some molds you can add more than 1 color, but it's a little tricky.

I combine each color of the powdered frit into a jar and get it wet then I pour off the excess water and spoon the frit into the mold. It must be packed tightly and the water removed.

*This picture is after I've put the frit in the mold and mopped up the water with a paper towel.

This picture is after they've been in the freezer for a few hours. You can see the wet spots where I didn't get enough of the water out.

After taking them out of the freezer I put them on a kiln shelf with shelf paper (so they don't stick). As you can see putting the different colors in the eyes was a little tough! Also this is a difficult part because I have to get them out the mold without breaking them and then get them on the shelf with out touching them a lot. If they break they will not fuse together very nicely so I don't even bother trying to put them back together before fusing.

One thing about freeze and fuse is typically 1/2 don't turn out. And as you can see by the picture that's exactly what happen with my fish. The red and blue ones broke.

But it's not a big deal I'll probably cut them up and put them in something else. The ones that did turn out will probably be fused onto a plate.

Here are some other pieces I've created with the freeze and fuse technique. The crab is a door knob, the fish is a pendant, the gun and hat are poker guards, the baby is a tie tack, and the purple ribbon is a pendant.

As I mentioned these are just a few examples of the possibilities that freezing and fusing fused glass can create!

If you have any questions about a freeze and fuse piece please email me at elegantfusedglass@gmail.com or checkout my website www.elegantfusedglassbykaren.com

Karen

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In addition to my Fused Elegance and Elegant Fused Glass by Karen websites, I'm also on Google +, Pinterest, YouTube, Etsy, and Artfire.

You can also contact my via email: elegantfusedglass@gmail.com

All Fused Glass photos as well as my flame are copyrighted 2015.