As I mentioned this month I’m going to focus my blogs on fused glass (Recycled glass) webinars by Jodi McRaney Rusho from Glass with a Past (on Curious Mondo). My first and second blogs I discussed some of the fused glass projects Jodi taught in her first webinar basic bottle glass fusing, and for my third and fourth blogs I want to focus on a couple of my favorite topics from her second webinar Advanced Bottle Glass Fusing.
In Jodi’s Advance recycled glass webinar there were so many fused glass techniques I’m not able to show all the projects she included in her webinar.
Of course my favorite projects from Jodi’s advanced glass webinar were her fuse and fold projects, like the chicken from the basic class. These are so cool and are really amazing kind of got me distracted.I made another chicken and yes I put the eyes on both sides, decorated both sides, and put the wings on right this time. Isn’t she cute!! One thing I learned is not as much of the mica came off than what I would have guessed, so I’ll need to be a bit more precise in my mica application. The only thing I’d do differently is to make the legs a little smaller and use a higher gauge wire for the legs.
Another fold and fuse project Jodi taught is an ornament. I must tell you this is very cool I love that it isn’t flat and I see a lot of potential for this project. I can’t wait to do it again. I did make one mistake on this fuse and fold project is I used too thin of wire for the sides, so one of my wires broke. Which is ok since I wouldn’t sell this one anyway. I really like keeping my first project of a technique because I learn so much making it and I’m a visual learner so looking at it before I make another is critical for me.
Another fused and fold project is a box and I love it! It’s so cool and fun – again I love that it isn’t flat. Not that it will hold anything small e.g., beads but it’s so pretty.
And of course two animals the chameleon and a stegosaurus. I think they are fabulous and just so freaking fun!! I’m truly addicted to them and will be doing so many more in the future e.g., cat, dog, moose, etc! These aren’t totally done. I need to put some beads on the chameleon tail and on some of the stegosaurus spikes. I do need to make the stegosaurus wires longer for the legs to bend them up more. The chameleon I was too rough with one of the legs and it broke off. So I need to make them a tad longer and maybe thicker. Both of these fuse and fold animals are lots of work, but they are also cool!
Two warnings about these fuse and fold projects: #1 they are extremely addictive and #2 they take a lot of work (both cutting time and kiln space).
If you would like to see more of my fused glass work please refer to my website Elegant Fused Glass by Karen. If you get a chance, check out all my sites, Fused Glass by Karen, My Etsy store, my Art fire Store, my Pinterest, and Elegant Fused Glass by Karen youtube. If you would like to stay abreast of what I’m up-to and learn a little more about jewelry, check out our newsletter. It is published the last day of each month.
Keeping my Kiln warm,
Karen
