Bubblelicious

I love making sushi dishes with bubble powder as it creates totally unique dishes each time I use it.
What is bubble powder? It is a fine fusing powder that, when sprinkled between two pieces of glass, will form blisters of colour, pushing up bubbles onto the surface of the glass.



"Ocean Floor" fused glass sushi dishes by Glassprimitif



I sell bubble powder that is COE82. This means that it will fuse with picture (float) glass only. As picture glass is so cheap compared to other art glass, this makes bubble powder a great medium to experiment with. http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=8354683
Bubble powder comes in two grades: the finest powder is called Bubble Classic (shown above) and forms large blisters in between the glass in deep, liquid colours. Boreal Bubble is a coarser grain and forms small pock marks in the glass in bright colours. I like to mix the Classic with the Boreal to add texture to the glass too. Bubble powder comes in wonderful colours such as yellow, turquoise, cobalt, Boreal red, Boreal orange and ruby gold. By mixing colours together you can add a third colour to your glass. For example, mixing turquoise and yellow will give a rich green sheen to your glass, as seen below.



"Forest Floor" fused glass sushi dish by Glassprimitif

To use the powder: shake a small amount of powder over a piece of clean float glass and cap with another piece of float glass. Fuse to your usual fusing schedule. Where the powder is thicker, larger bubbles will form inside the glass. If you intend to slump the glass then choose a shallow mold or the bubbles will fracture if they slump too deeply.
Caution: when handling the powder, remember to use surgical gloves and to wear a mask. Wash hands immediately after use and wipe up any surplus powder.

"Pink Bubblegum" fused glass pendant using ruby gold Boreal bubble powder http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=8296137
Stained glass suppliers Delphi from the United States also sell bubble powder which is co-efficient with all types of glass but, as I have never used it, I can't vouch for it. http://www.delphiglass.com/

Sheesh! That's bright.

I recently bought some Bullseye thin opals from http://warm-glass.co.uk/ and I really love these bright colours. I am working on a series of dishes using retro squares but I need add a few more colours to my stash. That pink is a bit pale but the yellows fuse into lovely marigold shades.

Float confetti and bubble powder

But these aren't red!

No they're not but if I worked with red glass all the time I would get stuck in a rut. Instead, I really like these Bullesye opals I bought in turquoise, soft blue, lime green and vanilla. I have mixed them with transparent blues, turquoise and greens to create these dishes. There are two sushi dishes, both starring on http://www.glassprimitif.etsy.com and a larger glass dish that I don't want to part with yet as I like it so much. I'm going to order some more opals from Warm-glass in funky colours.

Glass is good

The first glass I began fusing was float scrap that I could get free from work. I would fuse washers, copper wire, copper sheet, leaves and razor blades between the float. I still have these samples in a box along with all the pieces that went wrong. (It's a big box). When I got more familiar with glass fusing I looked around for a coloured glass that met my requirements and settled on Bullseye. The colours are so rich and vibrant. Here's an example of a few pieces of my Bullseye glass stash. My favourite colours are red (of course), vanilla, lime green, orange, amber, black and turquoise. Bullseye isn't the cheapest glass and all ambers, oranges and reds are the most expensive because of the gold content. So I have been looking around for a more competitive supplier. I have to weigh up my fuel costs against postage costs and it is definitely more cost effective to order glass by post than to travel to the warehouse I usually go to. The most competitive UK Bullseye supplier has to be www.warm-glass.co.uk where I already buy my dichroic glass. The new site is easy to navigate and they stock such a huge range of Bullseye colours that I am reeling from the choice. I'm going to have to make a purchase soon as I want to make dishes in chocolate and blue opal glass. I can even save glass I like in my Wish List so that I can go away and think about it before I commit to buy. If anyone wants to buy me a present from Warm-glass I would like the book "Contemporary Warm Glass" by Brad Walker. Thanks!

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.