|
|
 |
Fusing
Tutorial |
"Never Refuse to Refuse"
Glass:
The natural color of glass is a green.Like the coke bottle color.Metal alloys are added to produce the different colors.For example;greens & browns come from iron oxides. You can take a clear sheet of glass and by using different color pigments from powders you can create different colors on the clear sheet of glass.
Fused glass:
Warm glass as we call it in the industry, is the melting of glasses together to form one piece of glass.This is done around 1500 deg.depending on what glass you are using in a certain glass kiln.It then has to be cooled slowly which is called annealing.This is to assure the glass does not have any stress. You can paint a picture on the glass with frit or enamels which are crushed glass in powder form.Different colors of glass can be stacked to a desired look and fused together.
Slumped Glass:
The next step is to slump or drape the fused glass into or over a mold,which is the shape of the form you want to create.This is done at 1240 deg. again depending on the glass and the kiln.Some mold materials are stainless or ceramic.There are many other ways to shape your glass.Some shapes you can create are bowls & platters, big or small. One is only limited in the size of a piece by the size of the kiln.
Finish work:
After the glass is fused it can be sandblasted,ground,polished or left alone,if you have the look you want. All of the finish work, also called cold working, can be done before,and,or after the slumping process.
Types of sheet glass:
Here is an example of four kinds of glass to use: Opaque,transparent,dichroic & iridized.All giving you a different look.I uaually use Bullseye Glass. It has a 90coe (coefficant of expansion).I also use float glass which is window glass. Float glass rolls out of the factory on tin floats, hence the name. One must be carefull to know the air side from the tin side when fusing with float glass.
Another of my favorite glasses is tempered glass. It can not be cut without breaking into small pieces, so I use those glass pieces to form my glass.
This is only a small example of what fusing is about. I hope it has helped you understand the fusing process and all of the endless ways one can use glass. Which is the very reason I love it.
Enjoy...
|
|
|
|
