The majority of last month I was busy with commercial fused glass orders so those processes and fused glass pieces monopolized the majority of my newsletter blogs. I got a short break from commercial orders and I’ve actually been enjoying my big kiln for over a week. Wow have I had some fun fusing, it was difficult to choose which fused glass type I’d focus on for this blog.
Albeit since Valentine’s Day is right around the corner I thought I’d do my heart mold of the month.
This mold is actually a stainless steel heart former. I bought it from a wonderful fused glass artist / potter Laurie Spray. She has these steel forms made specifically for them. I must tell you I’ve used other stainless steel forms and they just don’t come close to Laurie’s forms. Hers are much thicker and more stable. If you are a fused glass artist I could not recommend a better stainless steel forms. *No Laurie doesn’t pay me for saying that. I just believe in her stainless steel molds.
I’ve mentioned several times how I love to learn. Most artists that create molds, formers, etc., also write tutorials on how to use those products. I personally think that’s a great thing. Yes it encourages us to use their products but it also takes out some of the guesswork. Laurie is no exception; she has several tutorials on her site on how to use her forms and molds. She has some cool molds so you will probably see me feature one of her molds in my monthly mold blog.
To be honest I’ve done this fused glass technique before, albeit with Laurie’s heart former and her tutorial I thought I’d do it again. It’s a beautiful fused glass heart dish. To me this fused glass dish looks like a bouquet of roses! This technique has a lot of clear glass but I also put some sheet glass, frit, stringer, enamel, etc,. So I fused the glass in the form at a very high temperature. Laurie’s firing schedule was perfect, because this baby was thick and I’m not used to firing a piece quite so thick.
After it came out it was in pretty good shape so I didn’t have to do much coldworking, albeit I did use the wetbelt sander then I put it back in the kiln for a firepolish. Finally I put it in a nice shallow mold and slumped it. So 3 firings each over 24hrs long; the reason for the long schedule is because the piece is really thick and requires a slow rate going up to the top temperature and a slow reduction in heat to room temperature.
Normally I don’t tell ya’ll how I make a fused glass piece, but I want ya’ll to know how much work goes into a beautiful fused glass art piece. Of course I didn’t tell you how each piece of glass was cut by hand and washed countless times!
Here’s a close up picture of one of my “roses”.
I hope you like this stunning piece!!
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.
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Keeping my Kiln warm,
Karen
