Enamel Powder with Glass

These two dishes, Squiggly Blue and Squiggly Red, have been fused with enamel powders and glass confetti. Enamel powder (the kind you use on copper to make enamelware) is fine coloured glass that has been ground to almost a dust. It is so fine that it will fuse with most glass types and the glass co-efficiency problem doesn't arise.


After I have cut and smoothed the edges of both pieces of glass I paint squiggly lines on one piece of glass with white glue (such as Elmer's). I then shake on the enamel powder and tap off the surplus onto a sheet of clean paper. Any powder that doesn't stick to the glue can be tipped back into the container that it came from. To avoid the enamel powder falling in lumps or blobs onto the glass surface, I shake it through a fine sieve. I then take a clean, soft paint brush and brush away any residue of powder that isn't stuck to the glue.
Next, I cap the glass with another piece of clean glass and dab glue onto pieces of glass confetti. Glass confetti are very thin shards of coloured glass that you can snap into rough shapes with your fingers. Once the glue is dry (I like to leave it thirty minutes) I place the piece in the kiln and start the fusing process.
Once fully fused, the glass is then slumped in a mold to create a squiggly dish. The Squiggly Dishes are now avaiable for sale in my Etsy store at http://glassprimitif.etsy.com/