I’m not sure if you’ve ever broken something that you didn’t want to throw away. Normally when I break a piece of glass, I just refuse it. However, I made this piece and it didn’t turn out the way I wanted. So, I did another firing to flatten it, then I added more glass and the deer then fused it again. You may not know this but sometimes glass does weird things the more you fire it. I fired it one more time and it broke in some of the weirdest spots, but I love the deer, the trees, and I just couldn’t throw it away.
Then I remembered Kintsugi. Kintsugi is the Japanese art of putting broken pottery back together with gold. The art is based on the idea of embracing flaws and imperfections. I love this idea, because who of us doesn’t feel broken at times. Supposedly it creates an even stronger and more beautiful piece of art. The technique highlights the “scars” as part of the design and is a metaphor of healing. Considering how many scars I have, I wanted to try Kintsugi on this piece. I added gold paint to frit and then spread it over the scar and refired it.
I’m happy how it turned out and knowing the meaning behind Kintsugi makes it even more meaningful. I’m so very happy with this piece. I’m so glad I didn’t just toss it. Isn’t glass fabulous.
In case there is any doubt, I’ll be keeping this one. I’ve framed it and added d-rings to hang it. I think it looks fabulous.
I add extra gold frit, so I decided to make two hearts of gold. The gold is med frit and the blue is fine frit. It’s not fused enough so I think I’ll try to refire it. I refired them and they didn’t change shape. I’ll probably make them into magnets.
Let me know what you think of my fused glass Kintsugi Glass art and my little hearts of gold.
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 site and my 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 kilns warm,
Karen
