Alligator Pot Melt

I made a pot melt last year and couldn't figure out what to do with it. After returning from a recent trip from Florida, the turquoise water inspired me. I used a stainless steel ring around the original pot melt and filled it with light aquamarine transparent coarse and clear frit to create a border all the way around. After the second firing, it then went into the sandblaster to remove small bubbles and imperfections. I fired it again to get a smooth fire polish and then slumped into a bowl.  

3/8” thick by 9-3/8” diameter, 2 inches tall, weighs 38.9 oz
Here is the finished bowl. I call it up to my ears in alligators. They remind me of an alligators with their mouths open.

This is how it was made. There were 7 holes drilled in the pot. This was a clay pot that was used before to make another pot melt. So there was already some color in the bottom of the pot. I added mostly scraps of clear, white and french vanilla from another project. This is how it was set up in the kiln.

This is what the pot looked like after a long hold in the kiln. Below you can see the melt.

I cut the top off the clay pot using a tile saw because it was too tall to fit in my kiln. I used this piece from clay pot to contain the melted glass which I lined with fiber paper so it wouldn't stick to the pot. 

This is the piece turned over and I filled a stainless ring with clear and turquoise frit. By turning the piece over and firing it on fiber paper you get a nicer finish. After this was fired, I took it to the sandblaster to get off any imperfections.

This is the front of the piece before slumping into a mold

This is the back of the piece.

The finished piece.

Busy Weekend Fusing

I started this post in December but for some reason, it never posted, so here it is.
This past weekend my kiln was working overtime. I had an order for 7 fused glass snowflakes and I only had 1 done. My kiln is 14" and these snowflakes are over 5" so I can only fit 4 in the kiln at a time. Here is what they like look before and after they were fired. Mind you each snowflake has 61 pieces of glass. The main components are easy since I use a strip cutter to cut the pieces. Where it gets tricky is laying the small pieces on top, glass with such small pieces is slippery so a tiny drop of glue went on each "arm". Each one took a little over an hour to cut and assemble. The finished product looks good. I tied a ribbon around them and they are ready to hang.

So now, the next one I made I used rainbow irid. I think it turned out very nice, here is a pic.









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? 

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.

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.

 



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.