From Glass Rods to Fused Glass

I bought these twisted glass rods from Ross of Nightcatdesign and I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with them at first.



Here are the results - fused glass pendants and earrings with silver plate bails and sterling silver ear wires. The rods have been fused onto vanilla, white or black Bullseye glass that has been capped with clear glass. they were fun to make and I still have lots of rods to use.


When they are expose to the extreme heat fo the kiln the rods fuse flat and the colors spread considerably. This gives the glass an integrated appearance, that the colors were laid into the glass individually.


These glass rods work well on the vanilla glass. The green in the rod has a glitter to it which catches the light. The large bail is silver plate.


These matching earrings have a delicate look. The ear wires are sterling silver. Available for sale at http://glassprimitif.etsy.com

Creating a Glass Dish Part 1

This is Bullseye glass and it's my favorite. The Bullseye factory is in Portland, Oregon www.bullseye.com which is why it is more expensive than in the US. Must be the air miles! But the colours are lovely, it is easy to cut and grind and doesn't lose its intensity when fused. I'm a big fan.


So these are the colours I am going to use in my glass dish. I have cut a square of 5" in thick clear glass, a slightly smaller square of thin vanilla opal and now I am going to cut the heart shapes in red, orange, amber and lime green thin transparent glass. I draw round the paper heart template with a permanent marker pen and cut the hearts with a Toyo cutter. I try to be as economical with the glass as possible, saving small fragments to use as frit and larger pieces for other projects.


Here is the glass dish prior to grinding. I have a small Glastar diamond grinder which I bought from Tempsford Glass about four years ago. It gets a lot of punishment but its still going strong. I like to use a fine grinding head for Bullseye and change to a coarse grinding head for float and very thick glass. Once the glass has been smoothed I wash it in hot soapy water, rinse it in vinegar and water then dry it very carefully.

A little bit of dichro

Two dishes with dichroic glass detail, fused on Bullseye glass.

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!

Carrick Bay

Last year we wnt to Scotland for our holidays and stayed at Carrick Bay on the Solway Coast. It was beautiful and so peaceful, with the mountains sweeping down to the sea and the little bays with birds and deer and rabbits. I took some photos of the beach and the skies and, on our return, made some sketches of the pebbles and rocks.



From these I designed four glass dishes in amber, brown and grey on vanilla with a touch of dichroic glass in each one.
These dishes have now been listed on Etsy and are for sale at $25 each. I have made two sets, although they will never look exactly the same, therefore they are unique. The second set are at Shaw Galleries in Skipton, UK.






I really enjoyed making them but I won't be making them again. I'm now interested in the seaweed photos that I took so I will be exploring this idea in glass.


www.glassprimitif.etsy.com
www.shawgalleries.co.uk

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.

RED sushi dish

Glass Mosaic Sushi Dish - measures 4 1/2" square. Made from Bullseye glass in red, black, orange and amber placed onto vanilla. All glass cut, fused and polished at the Glassprimitif studio. Email me for further details.