What is Fused Glass?
At its most basic, fusing is stacking one or more layers of glass in a kiln and heating it until it blends or joins into a single layer. Then it’s cooled thru a carefully timed annealing process.
When glass is heated about 650 degrees celsius it becomes soft and taffy like. Add more heat and it becomes like honey in consistency as parts liquefy and fuse together into one form.
Various different effects and levels of fusing can be achieved by changing the temperature and length of time the glass is in the kiln. But, to fuse successfully, all the glass pieces must be compatible with each other so the glass will expand and contract at the same rate when it’s heated and cooled. If it’s not compatible, it will break. This is known as the co-efficient of expansion (COE for short) and all the glass I use is imported from Bullseye Glass Company in Portland, Oregon, USA.
Once the glass has been fully fused at 810 Celsius so the layers have melted together, the glass can be put back into the kiln again for a second time to “slump”. Slumping softens the glass so it will take on the shape of a mould such as a plate or bowl, and occurs at 660 Celsius.
When glass is heated about 650 degrees celsius it becomes soft and taffy like. Add more heat and it becomes like honey in consistency as parts liquefy and fuse together into one form.
Various different effects and levels of fusing can be achieved by changing the temperature and length of time the glass is in the kiln. But, to fuse successfully, all the glass pieces must be compatible with each other so the glass will expand and contract at the same rate when it’s heated and cooled. If it’s not compatible, it will break. This is known as the co-efficient of expansion (COE for short) and all the glass I use is imported from Bullseye Glass Company in Portland, Oregon, USA.
Once the glass has been fully fused at 810 Celsius so the layers have melted together, the glass can be put back into the kiln again for a second time to “slump”. Slumping softens the glass so it will take on the shape of a mould such as a plate or bowl, and occurs at 660 Celsius.
Types of Glass I Use
DICHROIC GLASS
All my “Friends and Family” pieces have some dichroic glass to add some "bling". Dichroic is a special coating, originally produced for the aerospace industry. Dichroic glass has transmitted colour and a completely different reactive colour. The two colours shift and blend depending on the lighting and your angle of view, so it appears to have more than one colour at the same time. FRIT Frit is ground glass and ranges in particle size from powder to small gravel size. At the powder level it can be sifted over glass, or at the more gravely level it is sprinkled for effect. STRINGER Looks like spaghetti and ranges in size from 1mm to 2mm thick and is great as a decorative element, either in straight lines, or lightly heated to make curves. CONFETTI Eggshell-thin shards of glass mostly used for creating random patterns, shading and colour blending. |