Tuesday, January 11, 2011

New Year, New Fused Glass Projects

The great thing about the beginning a new year is planning out what you hope to accomplish for that year. This year I am especially enthusiastic about all the new fused glass projects I plan to do. Not only do I hope to make some cool new glass but I also plan to use up the excess glass that I've been accumulating.


You may not be able to tell from the photo but some of these bins are stuffed and the shelf is bowing out a little!


The nice thing about using up excess glass is that you can make some pretty interesting designs from melting smaller pieces of glass together.




Okay, so here's what I plan to make this year:

Fused glass bowls using cut up shelf melts. I started making a few plates with this technique last year. I hold these at a higher temperature to get the glass to flow more.


I'll also play with making shelf melts at lower temperatures where the glass does not flow and cut them up into plates.

Frit cast bowls using frit that I make myself (this should be interesting as you heat the glass and then plunge it into cold water so it shatters easily upon impact to make frit)

Picture frames

New jewelry designs, although jewelry doesn't really use up much excess glass

And, later in the year I will hopefully experiment with pattern bars and new holiday ornaments (poinsettias and new snowflake designs).

Of course, I'll keep you posted as I'm in the process of experimenting with and creating the new work. I'm looking forward to seeing how the projects progress and getting started!