Glass Fusing Students

Funky Fish Workshop at South Square Centre

I REALLY enjoyed myself last Saturday teaching a workshop on Funky Fused Glass Fish at South Square Centre. I hope the students did too. Nine future glass artists joined the workshop to learn how to design and create their own fused glass fish in both float and Bullseye glass. The workshop covered the basics of cutting glass, grinding, working with both transparent and opal glass and making some delightful fused glass fish. The workshop also covered colour theory, glass types, how glass behaves in a kiln and fusing and annealing. In fact, a comprehensive introduction into the creative and tech side of  warm glass. Here are the results of the workshop - they did a good job!

Bullseye Glass Fish - students' work 

The next workshop at South Square will be Shards, Frits and Stringers on Saturday 4th August. This is an introduction into making glass tiles or coasters with additional glass pieces, powders and rods. At the end of the workshop I will take the students' glass home and fire it in my kiln before posting it back to them. 


I am now arranging the September workshop on Glass Fusing but I'm in a bit of a quandary regarding what to teach. I have a choice of three workshops so I am asking people to vote HERE. I will teach the workshop that gains the most votes. 
The choices are:
1. Dichroic Glass Jewellery using top quality CBS dichroic coated Bullseye glass to make pendants, earrings, brooches, cufflinks - whatever your fancy. Dichroic glass glitters and shimmers in the light and has an amazing colour shift. 
2. Fused Glass Dishes takes students through the process of designing, cutting and creating fused glass dishes in both float and Bullseye glass (examples HERE) that will then be slumped into moulds to form delightful dishes. 
3. Fused Glass Hangings and Light Catchers with copper wire, inclusions, frit and coloured glass. These look fabulous hung in front of a window (see below). 

Fused Glass Hangings

If you are interested in Glass Fusing Workshops at South Square Centre in Thornton, Bradford please email Glassprimitif or contact South Square HERE. 

Fused Glass Fish Forever!

My latest glass commission has been for 15 fused glass fish for a customer in Wisconsin, USA. The customer specified that he wanted the glass to be transparent and for each fish to be different.
Although cutting glass for so many fish is time consuming I really enjoyed making them, selecting the colours and creating stripes, spots and a mixture of both. As the coloured glass is transparent these fish look fabulous when held up to the light. Each fish has a hook so that it can be made into a mobile or a window decoration.

If you would like to learn how to make a funky fused glass fish I will be delivering a glass fusing workshop at South Square Centre Thornton Bradford on Saturday 7th July. There are 10 places available and you can find out more and how to book by clicking on the Workshop tab at the top of the page. 

Glass Fusing Workshop by Glassprimitif

Saturday 7th July 2012

Enjoy a day of designing and creating fabulous fused glass fish, a workshop in glass fusing for beginners and intermediate glass fusers

  Costs: £40 (all materials and equipment provided)

  Times: 10:00 to 15:00

  Where: South Square Centre, Thornton Road,

  Thornton Bradford BD13 3DL

 

Introduction to glass fusing including: cutting skills, technical know-how, working with coloured glass, designing and glass assembly.   Expert tuition given and  Bullseye glass used.

To book: contact Jo Whitehead of Glassprimitif by email Jfwhitehead@blueyonder.co.uk or call  07837471040

We accept payment by Paypal, BACS or cheque. Details of payments, refunds, workshop outline and venue available by email.

Glass Paint Experiments

Glass paints before fusing

I love doodling and drawing and, for a while now, I have wanted to combine this with glass fusing. I tried a black glass pen for float glass but the results were too messy and very disappointing so I finally invested in red, blue, yellow, black and gold Glassline pens from Warmglass.co.uk

The colours are chalky when they are applied but the results were surprisingly good. I had to practice quite a bit until I could squeeze the colours through the nib with a steady hand but, fortunately, any mistakes can be wiped off. Also, any large blobs or wobbly lines can be tidied up with a cocktail stick when the colour is dried, before fusing. 

Drawing

The fish was drawn using Glassline pens and a nib on float glass. The periwinkle blue is a bit too pearly and is thicker than the other colours.  I'm going to dilute it slightly and try to get a better flow.

Drawing

Gold, black and red Glassline pens. The gold fires to a lovely shine - I wish there was silver too. 

Fired glass

The glass on the top left hand corner has been painted with Glassline with a brush. I'm not keen - it's too pale.  The glass on the bottom right hand corner has been sponged across masking tape before the tape is removed and then fired. It's a nice effect.

Fused Glass fish

If you are visiting the Saltaire Makers Fair on 5th, 6th, 7th May you will get a free funky fused fish if you spend £30 or over on Glassprimitif products. Hope to see you there. 

Getting Ready

I'm really busy fusing new glass at the moment in readiness for the fairs and events I will be attending in 2012.
I was lucky enough to be selected for this year's Maker's Fair at the Saltaire Arts Trail in May and I want to have a new range of glass ready. I have been trawling through my Image file of Sold items to gauge which designs have been most popular and I have resolved not to make any more experiments this year until I have built up my stock.  

Beach Huts

I've also bought some larger moulds so that I can make bigger dishes. As PVS Glass in Calverley has now closed they have been selling off the moulds and I bagged several bargains. 

Patchwork Quilt

Then there's my table display. My skills in interior design and product placement have always let me down in the past so I am planning a simple display that will, hopefully, show the glass off to its advantage - which means Less is More!

Cool Squares

It's been two years since I showed my glass at the Saltaire Maker's Fair so I need to research and revise my retail pricing. Fusing glass has become so expensive now that to manufacture glass dishes in the UK means a struggle between costs of raw materials and customer affordability. Having bought two sheets of clear 2mm Bullseye Glass this week, I sometimes think it might be cheaper to just emigrate to Portland, Oregon where it's manufactured.

Bright coasters

I've been reassessing my glass fish - which have always proved to be one of my best sellers - but I need to rethink the design. Back to the drawing board.

Glass Finds

Today in Ilkley I popped into Cakewalk for a chat with Emma and a browse in her lovely shop. Cakewalk is a mixture of hand made loveliness and vintage finds and I was delighted to find three vintage Murano glass animals on a shelf. 

I love original Murano glass animals as they remind me of my childhood when we had "nick-nacks" on small wooden shelves. My middle sister collected Whimsy animals and my eldest sister had a Murano deer, complete with little gold chain.  This little fish has Millefiore at its centre and also a tiny shard of Gold Stone, which is not a gem stone as those people who sell rocks would have you believe, but is glass. 

Aren't these two tiny dogs just delightful? They are less than 2" tall but the detail is exquisite. I have a large shoe box full of this kind of glass, all carefully wrapped in tissue paper. They aren't displayed because I don't want them to break and I don't want to dust them either! 

Buying vintage Murano glass is very much a case of "Buyer Beware". Much of the glass you see on eBay is not real Murano, particularly if it comes from Hong Kong or Russia. Vintage Murano animals have a quality to the glass that shows they have been made with a torch and mandrel, not poured into a mould. 

And the Winner is......

Congratulations to Chantal of Here Pretty Kitty who's name was drawn out of a hat to win bag of glass goodies. Incidentally, her suggested name was Tomomi. What did she win?

• A fused glass magnet
• A set of glass coasters
• A pair of dichroc etched glass drop earrings
• A glass fish pendant
• A pair of opal glass cufflinks
• A glass bead bag charm
• A 25% off voucher from Glassprimitif

Thank you to all who entered - I was thrilled to have so many participants. I'll be in touch with you all.

Funky Folksy Fish

The latest catch of fabulous fused glass fish have just landed fresh from the kiln.

I love making these fish because I get to play with so many different colours of glass to make different combinations of fish. I start with the basic template drawing and cut lots of fish "bodies" from off-cuts of opal vanilla and clear glass. I have even used Uroboros irridescent glass in bubbles and stripes. Irri glass looks flat and colourless until it is held up to the light, then the oily colours of irridised glass sparkle and catch the light.

So, every fish starts as a basic shape that I can add shapes cut from bright glass and play around with. I make some fish in opal glass and some in transparent glass to make each one different. I have my favourites, of course, such as turquoise with cranberry transparent glass and orange with lime green opal glass. If I think there might be a subtlety to the colour combinations I change it fast! Tasteful? Moi? I like positioning their eyes (made from glass blobs) too, so that each fish has a different expression.

Next comes the laborious task of grinding all the shapes so that I don't get any strange knobbly, misshapen bits after firing. Then the wash, rinse and dry before gluing the component parts together. Attaching the metal hangers is always a bit tricky and, if the glass doesn't fuse over the top, the hangers will pop out. (Which results in much gnashing of teeth). Once dry, it's everyone into the kiln for a fry-up so that they come out smooth, glossy and sleek.

These fantastic fish are being listed on Folksy all this week. They will make the perfect Easter gift or look great on the bathroom wall.

Gone Fishing......

More fish, fresh from the kiln. These funky fused glass fish are made from Bullseye glass and are such fun to make. Each fish has a wire loop to hang in the window or in the bathroom ort anywhere at all.

Billy the Fish available for sale at Etsy

Monty the Fish available for sale at Dawanda

Tango the Fish available for sale at Dawanda

Simon the Fish available for sale at Etsy

Celeste the Fish available for sale at Dawanda

Ethelred the Fish available for sale at Etsy

Cecil the Fish available for sale at Dawanda

Calypso the Fish available for sale at Etsy

Glass Fish

One of my favorite glass items is fish. They are great fun to make because I can play with so many different combinations of colors.



Here is Sammy, a pendant made by Smokeylady54, using one of my glass fish in her creation. She has added her opwn lovely lampwork beads and leaves, as well as pearls and Swarovski crystals. The toggle on this piece is Sterling silver and the necklace is just under 22" long.



Sammy is for sale at Smokeylady's Etsy store . I also have some glass fish in my Etsy store too. Below are "Sid and Nancy", two punky fish waiting for a home.

Good Luck and Prosperity

Fish play a big part in my designs. There are three reasons for this - they are easily recognisable shapes to cut in glass, they can be decorated in any color or pattern that the imagination will allow and they are symbols of good luck and prosperity in eastern culture.
So I have spent a happy time in my studio creating fused glass Lucky fish pendants and have just listed them in my Etsy store at http://glassprimitif.etsy.com

Catch of the day

These little fishes are all for sale at http://glassprimitif.etsy.com/. Every fish has been made from colorful Bullseye fused glass and has a copper wire to hang in your bathroom. Each fish costs just $9 (excluding postage) and this month's promotion is, buy three for $20 - a saving of $7.

Funky Fish

I make a selection of glass fish from scraps of glass. The glass nuggets are fused in the kiln before I place them on the fish so that they form a blob rather than fusing flat. I start off by cutting out a paper template and drawing round it onto the glass, using a permanent marker pen. Once I have cut the basic shape I then grind it into a better shape. Then the fun part is sorting through my spare glass to decide on colours and decorative shapes. I really enjoy cutting glass, the more awkward the shape, the better the challenge. Grinding large pieces is boring but shaping difficult pieces such as hearts is very satisfying. Once everything is shaped, washed and dried, I put it all together with touches of Elmers Glue. I fuse the hanging wire between two pieces of glass to secure it. Then into the kiln for fusing. The exciting part is taking the glass out when the kiln has cooled to see what I have got. I have three fish designs at the moment, Submarine, Flounder and Tiddler. I'm not particularly fascinated by fish, but they sure are fun to make!
A selection of tiddlers are available in my Etsy shop.

Fishes on Dishes

These dishes are made from Bullseye glass and are on sale at the Arts Factory, Cavendish Street, Keighley, West Yorkshire BD21 3DF. They measure 5" square and come in bright, funky colours. They can be used for sushi, canapes, candy or just as something cheerful for the coffee table. They cost £15 sterling or $28 with postage of £3 for UK buyers, $6.50 for overseas. Contact the Arts Factory on 01535 618554 or email: joanna.whitehead@keighley.ac.uk.

When I started fusing glass I experimented with a variety of glass until I decided that Bullseye was the glass for me. The colours are brilliant - my favourites are vanilla opal, red irridescent and turquoise. Unfortunately, it's an expensive glass but you get the quality that you pay for. I buy my Bullseye colours from Decorative Glass Supplies in Bradford. This is a huge warehouse stacked full of glass and glass making supplies. Makes include Bullseye, Spectrum and all the glass you need for stained glass.