What's New: Tiny Fused Glass Plates

If you've been reading my blog, you know that I'm on a path to use up my excess glass -- this not only includes clear and smaller sheet glass but also the leftover bits from prior work.  Often, because I like the glass design, I save it hoping that the next time I make similar glass, I might be able to incorporate it.  However, over time the only thing that I've done is to accumulate lots of little bits of glass.  Until now.  By sizing down, I have just enough to make smaller 4" x 6" plates.  And, since I have a small accumulation of glass, I am able to make a wide variety of designs -- I've already made 15 so far!  These tiny plates are not only a nice size for gifts but also fun to make.  I'm happy with how these turned out.  Let me know what you think.

Working with Powders to Make Fused Glass Flower Plates

I mentioned that I'm working on using up my scrap glass.  Actually, anything less than a square foot is typically referred to as scrap, so the pieces can be either fairly large or small.  For me, I have a lot that are approximately the same size -- which is the result of making coaster sets.  As I just purchased a new box of bumpons, I figure that I've made over 175 coaster sets, which means a lot of excess scrap accumulated over time.  So, what I decided to do is to make flower plates.

To start, I gather my glass and cut a pattern of the a petal from a manila folder based on the size of the glass as well as the size of the mold that I plan to use.

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As with cutting circles, the more excess you have between the size of the pattern and the total glass size, the cleaner the cut.  So, there's a balance between trying to use up as much of the glass as possible and the amount of extra work you want to do (e.g. using grosing pliers to pull off the excess and grinding the sides smooth).

Next I put down some paper to catch the powder and set up a little station to elevate the glass, which makes it easier to lift up the glass to transfer it to the kiln shelf.

After I'm done, I load the kiln and tack fuse to 1365 degrees.  And, I save the power to use in another project.  When the petals come out, I tack fuse the petals together and use the dots that I made earlier as the center.  I fire this to 1375 degrees but now because the entire piece is thicker, I need a longer annealing hold, which for this project was 2 hours.

Tips:

• If you're new to free form cutting, start with the larger size glass first, which makes for a cleaner break and less coldworking. You'll get better cutting the same pattern with practice, so cutting with less excess glass becomes easier.
• Because the petals are symmetrical, I scored one half on one side and then flipped the glass to score the other half.  This allowed me to have nice score lines without crossing an existing score which can dull the cutter.
• Wear latex gloves if you have them -- when I didn't, it still felt like I had powder on my hands no matter how much I washed them afterwards.
• Wear a respirator - this is a must when dealing with powder.
• Don't use hairspray to try to adhere the powder afterwards - it just clumps up and the truth is that you don't need it.
• Do use hairspray to help the dots and petals stay in place as you transport the shelf to the kiln.
• While I intended to make the flowers using the same colored petals, I found that I liked them better when there was a contrast between the top and bottom petals.
• Take notes on how much powder you use -- for me, the right amount is 4 passes but it can vary based on how much powder you put on with each pass.

So far, I've made 16 of these, each with 14 petals, which means that I've used 224 pieces of scrap glass!  At the same time, I now have a bin with quite a bit of the excess glass from the sides.  So, I'm making progress but still have a way to go.

New Fused Glass Pattern Bar Bowls & Plates

I've been busy stocking up and trying to make larger pieces in preparation for the Association of Clay and Glass Artists (ACGA) show earlier this month (this was the show that I posted about earlier with the live jury).  Here's a few pieces that I made within the past month.

The first is a commission piece for a friend of mine:

I liked the look of the blue and green combination, so I decided to expand on it using both the progressive and bookend pattern bar techniques:

I also made another bowl using the black/grey/red combination.  I tried in the past to make a fused glass plate using black/white/red but found that a little challenging since the black and white combination make pattern bar work much more difficult (black fires softer, while white fires harder).

Keeping the black/red combination going, I made a fabulous 12" plate using the bookend pattern bars across and down.  It's difficult to see but there's a dark red strip about 2/3's of the way down.

This was also difficult to photograph.  If I put it against the light, the colors are a little too bright.  The following two photos give a sense of that (bright colors) but turned out much better than the photo above did when backlit.

The ACGA show turned out to be a great show, so all the trouble of the live jury was worth it.  The quality of the work was very impressive, especially considering that there were about 160 clay and glass artists only.  It was inspiring to see the breadth and variety of clay and glass work.

Now that it's over, I have three more pattern bar blocks that I'll be cutting up this week, so I'll be posting some new work in the upcoming months.  The color palate will be new for me - a little more muted or fall type colors - blues & grays and ambers & greens.

Let me know what you think and if there are any color combination or designs that particularly strike you.

Fused Glass Success! Persistence with Live Jury Pays Off

In a previous post, I mentioned that I participated in a live jury (without success) to become an exhibiting member of the Association of Clay and Glass Artists (ACGA).  Well, a few months ago, I juried for the second time and got in!  I'm thrilled - partially because it is not easy to jury in and partially because of the quality of the other exhibiting members.

Much of my exhibit remained the same as before but I also added in a few new pieces (below), substituting for smaller pieces.

I've been a little kiln challenged making larger pieces and I'm in the process of addressing this - step 1: buy larger kiln - done!  Step 2: adjust firing schedule - still working on this part but I think I'm there :)

I have a few more pattern bar projects in process and will hopefully post photos once they're done.  In the meantime, persistence is a good thing when venturing into new glass work although I am beginning to dislike the term "trial and error".

Live Jury Experience

In my prior post, I mentioned part of the reason that I was creating new work besides just overall interest in the technique was for a live jury that I had this month.  Normally, jurying just involved submitting photographs but for this jury, each candidate had to select 8-12 pieces that they would set up on a 6' table.  The jurying took place at Fort Mason, San Francisco and all the artists had to be set up by 7:00 pm.  Then we had to clear the room (a waiting area was provided) and come back at 9:30 pm to pick up our work.  Fortunately, I live in Oakland, so it wasn't too difficult to travel back and forth.  However, some artists drove from Chico or Los Angeles and had to spend the night.

Here's what my table looked like:

While, its a little hard to see each item,  this give you an idea of my display and set up - symmetrical, on white, with lights behind the three main pieces, which was a nice effect as I didn't get the benefit of being in front of the window once the sun went down.

Unfortunately though, I was not accepted to be an exhibiting member.  The feedback was that while the judges appreciated the technique, they wanted to see a deeper exploration in terms of form.  I should mention that the jury was made up of ceramicists and glass artists, so for a ceramicist it's much easier to have different forms of bowls, vases...etc.  Their comment was that my shapes looked similar, which was actually my intent.  I make plates and platter in the same shape so that they can be mixed and matched.

However, they encouraged me to apply again (next jury will be in October; although jury members will be different).  So I guess in the meantime, I'll be playing around with some bowls and possibly draping to get a vase-like effect.  If you have any suggestions for other forms, please let me know.  And, when I get around to taking close-up photos to put on my website, I'll include them in a post so you can better see the designs (or include a link to my website).

Making Fused Glass Pattern Bars - Part 2: Design

My last post ended with me firing my second batch of pattern bars.  Unfortunately, the kiln failed and I needed to replace the relay, which delayed me for a little while.  For the second batch, I used longer glass pieces, which seemed to increase the height of the end product.

Once the bars come out, they may need to be ground around the edges to remove the glass burs as well as make them flat and smooth.  This will help as you lay them out since you want the cut glass to line up rather than have little areas that flare out.

After the bars are ground, they are cut up with a tile saw.  The slices are about 1/4" wide.  To help with cutting, it's good to have a fused piece of glass that you can put against the end of bar to avoid chipping as the blade runs through the end.  Also when the bar gets thin, I like to put a piece of glass underneath to steady the bar.

Here are the results from two firings of blue/green and multi-colored pattern bars.

The next step is to sandblast the bars to prevent devitrification.  After this, the bars are ready to be used in a design.  These were just loaded into the kiln today.

After they're fired, I'll coldwork the edges to make sure they are smooth.  Then, I'll fire them again, turning them over (so what you will see is the reverse of the photo).  And the last step will be to slump them so they can be shaped into plates and platters.  My goal is to have about 10-11 pieces done by 3/12 for a juried (in person) event.  In a later post, I'll show you my set-up for the jury and you can see the finished pieces.

This is a new effort for me.  These are already a favorite of my husband.  I like the result but find that I don't enjoy making these as much as some of the other things I've made.  Let me know what you think!

Fall's Here: New Fused Glass Plates in Autumn Colors

For those of you who are familiar with my work, you know I tend to prefer bright colors - blues, greens, purples or neutrals like black and white, with some red.  Over the past few years, I've been accumulating a fair amount of light amber glass (left over from making my Christmas angel ornaments).  As I hate to waste glass, I decided to expand my color palate so I could incorporate some of the amber glass.  So, in addition to amber, I've added olive green, persimmon, terra cotta, and a range of amber colors.  Here's the first fused glass pieces out of the kiln.

However, as I still had a fair amount of excess amber glass left, I also made a batch of star ornaments.

I'm especially happy with how the plates turned out.  And, as I still have a fair amount of amber glass left, you'll be seeing more variations.  As this is new for me, I'd be interested in your thoughts about the colors.

Frit Cast Experiment

During the year, there are times when you have more time to experiment on new work. For me, this typically happens at the beginning and end of the year when there are no shows. You may recall my post at the beginning of this year about making frit.

Well, one of the projects that I hoped to make was frit cast bowl. I had taken a class and made a 4.5" frit cast tile using only two colors of glass.

So, I hoped to use the technique to make a 12" bowl. I weighed the frit and fired the kiln. Unfortunately, this did not turn out as expected. This is because I measured the frit based on having 2 layers of glass, whereas my tile was based on a more than 2 layers. The technique was based on mounding the frit and having it spread out. Thus, I didn't have enough frit to nicely melt to the edges and the glass was at least 1" shorter than the intended 12" circle and of course, not uniform in thickness (thinner at the edges, thicker in the middle).

But not to waste anything, I've cut up the glass and incorporated it into the center of a plate.

I like the detail that you get from from the frit and could see doing more of these but adding more colors and making the frit more random (e.g. think of various colors of frit shaken up).

And, I'll still try to make that frit cast bowl. But, next time, I'll be more intentional at laying out the frit so it completely covers the base rather than mounding it and adding more frit overall. Once I get that done, I'll post it but most likely not until the end of this year or beginning of next, when I'm back to experimenting :)

New Work: More Fused Glass Plates with Cut-Ups

Earlier I posted about various ways I make different types of glass that I cut up to create my fused glass plates. Here's a couple of the newer creations.

The first set are plates using a high temperature shelf melt:

Next, are some small and medium plates using a shelf melt that's sliced and laid on its side.

These styles are fairly new for me and I'm learning a lot about what I like and what others do as well. My favorite is the purple plate which looks really nice up close as you can all the different purple variations of the glass in the center. If you have a favorite or a style you like, let me know as I'd be interested in your thoughts.

Fused Glass Plates Using Shelf Melts - Part 2

In my prior post, you saw the making of the glass using a high temperature shelf melt. While I am still working on how to create a swirlier effect (another attempt is in the kiln as I write), I wanted to share with you how the cut glass looks in finished plates.




Another type of shelf melt that I've tried is one that does not involve high temperature. This is fired at regular fusing temperatures and includes a bubble squeeze to eliminate the air so that glass lays side to side. As the glass will be cut up in 1/4" strips so that the sides lay face up, you can use larger pieces that you may not have been able to with the prior melt.

As you can see, this glass is not as attractive as the glass in the prior post. However, once it's cut up, the results are just as striking, if not more.


Here's a couple of photos of the slices of glass used in plates. I'd be interested to know which style of melt you prefer. Most likely I'll be doing a combination of the two :)

How to Make Fused Glass Shelf Melts

As mentioned, my 2011 plan is to use up my excess glass. I've made a few shelf melts before with a nice swirly effect.


So, I was hoping to replicate the results. To make the shelf melts, I take the temperature to a level where the glass becomes molten so I get some movement. Because of this, I placed the glass pieces in a stainless steel ring, which acts as a "dam" to contain the glass. The ring is lined with fiber paper, so the glass does not stick to it. Also, on the bottom half, I placed small scoops of bubble powder to see if it would help create the swirly effect. Then, I topped it with clear glass.


Unfortunately, the results did not quite have the same swirly effect I had hoped. And, the bubble powder really didn't do much. So, I tried again. With glass, it often takes several to many attempts to get the results you want. The second time, I used bigger pieces of glass to trap more air, which should create more bubbles and thus, a swirly effect when the bubbles surface. Again, the results looked pretty similar to the first.


When I checked my firing schedule against those I made in the past, I realized that I was using a different schedule. I basically use the same schedule as I do for making pot melts but realized that in the past I increased the speed that the temperature ramps up because I don't have to worry about the pot cracking. The third attempt (again with some bubble powder on the bottom) was better but still did not have the same amount of swirling as the originals. I'll have to keep playing and post again once I figure it out.

However, when I cut up the glass (to be used in plates), I actually liked those with less swirls to the one with more. There's more contrast between light and dark. The first two from the left are the two pieces of glass I just made shown above and the column on the right is the glass I made earlier (also above).


What do you think? I'm excited to include these in some plates. I have the first one in the kiln right now and will post some photos once I get a few of these finished.