Sunday, November 24, 2013

Red and Green

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Lots of ornaments in the kiln now, trying to get everything done before the holidays. In an earlier post, I showed you a red piece of glass with gold mica on it. I have added a border of light adventurine green and the base glass is red and this is the result. When I first fired this piece, I fired it mica side down. This is to prevent the mica from settling into the glass too much and will leave a satin finish. However, for some reason, the red glass on the back of this dish devitrified. I had to use the new sandblaster to get the devit off. I then slumped into a mold and here it is. The back also has a satin finish which I really like.

 
I'm really struggling taking photographs of shiny glass. Any suggestions? 

Sunday, October 27, 2013

It's really hard to photograph irids

Yesterday was the last day of the irids and micas class. Before I get into that, I wanted to share my final project from this class. This is the irid on irid on deep royal blue irid transparent, topped with clear rainbow irid. I just finished slumping this and have spent a long time trying to get a good photograph.

Close up detail

I must have taken 50 or so pictures before I found ones that I'm happy with. The camera cannot seem to capture the depth of the glass as your eyes can. In addition, your lighting has to be just right as reflections are always a problem photographing glass. I've also found the color blue to be very challenging, this is a very deep royal blue and the camera seems to wash out the color. I have tried so many settings. If anyone has any suggestions on photographing irid glass or dichroic glass I'd love to know what settings you use on your camera and your lighting setup.

Here is the final process we learned in the class, it is using a photopolymer material to transfer an image to the glass. The amount of detail that is possible using this technique is amazing. After transferring your design to the glass, you sandblast the polymer and your design is etched into the glass. If you ever get a chance to experiment with photopolymer, I would highly suggest it. But beware, the material and the equipment needed to do this process can be expensive.

This is a 5 x 5 test tile irid rainbow on black glass. I haven't decided what I will do with this yet, I'm tempted to airbrush some mica on the design to make it pop.

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Its been a while since the last post. There is one more class to attend in this four week class. Here are some examples of the irid on irid process.


The idea is taking two pieces of irid glass, putting the irid sides facing each other. To achieve this, you need to sandblast a design into the irid so the glass will fuse together. Irids and micas will not fuse to each other, the irid coating prevents it.


Top piece taped and dots of glue
Base Glass with Tape























These two images are of my piece in progress. I used a deep blue transparent irid and taped it with masking tape and then cut out a few random piece of tape. On the right is a clear piece of rainbow irid that I also taped and put some glue on as dots.


This picture shows the two pieces of glass after being sandblasted and the masking tape and glue removed and now the two irid surfaces are face to face.

Sandblasted and tape removed ready for the kiln
Here is the piece after it had been full fused and is now ready for slumping.

Full fused ready for slumping

Unfortunately, irid to irid pieces are very hard to photograph, they just don't depict the colors and depth you see with your eyes.
 
 
This piece was created using mica. The mica was added to Glastac and brushed on. Again, the picture really doesn't capture how shiny this gold mica is. It was put in the kiln at 1400 just to get the mica to settle into the glass. I now have added a border around this piece and it's in the kiln now. Can't wait to see what it looks like.
 


Friday, October 4, 2013

Welcome to Glass Intrigues Blog

I've been creating fused glass for about three years now and thought it was time I should talk about it. Tomorrow is the 2nd day of a class I'm taking at Helios Kiln Glass Studio in Austin, Texas. The class is called Working with Irids and Micas. You can find the class description here: http://www.heliosglass.com/classes_micas_irids.htm

I really enjoy classes at Helios. I have learned so much at this studio. For anyone who is looking to learn about glass fusing, I would highly recommend taking a class or two there. But let me warn you, its very addicting. If I lived closer I would be there every week. Tomorrow I will post pictures of my work in the class.