Very cool! I don't know the first thing about how you did that! Could you explain it in a nutshell?

wow!! they look great....i love those colours.

Amazing! And for it being your first from your kiln, even more impressive!

I love the fused glass but am quite ignorant on anything about it but how it looks. Looks like lots of fun!

VERY COOL!!!

WOW! Those are gorgeous!
Have you tried using precious metal clay with your glass?

LadyRonnie, several weeks ago I didn't know much at all! I've only just chipped the iceburg of what there is to learn. In a nutshell? I stacked some bits of glass together & melted it in a really hot oven. That's it! Ok it's a bit more involved than that :o) You should've seen me Monday, I sat out in the garage most of the day in my beach chair watching the kiln. Yeah I set the thing to go up to 1450 F for the first time I wanted to keep a bit of an eye on it, KWIM? Plus I was just excited! Here's the website where I got a lot of my initial information. There is a nice tutorial & a message board.

Here is a link that might be useful: Warm Glass

No I haven't tried any PMC yet. One thing to learn at a time, plus I've spent way too much money already. I may try some later on.

WOW!!! Love it!! In Mexico, at the Hacienda Mosaico, she had incorporated fused glass into her mosaics and tufa carvings, it looked fantastic!! Ahhh, the possibilities are endless!!! Thanks for sharing this with us! Here is another site you might like...

Here is a link that might be useful: silicon folly

Not opening those sites but I'm drooling at your first results. I can just see those in mosaics. As Jane mentioned they surely looked great in those Mexico pieces. I don't DARE get a kiln. Got to keep focused on what I have. W/a VERY high-maintenance garden, I'm not even mosaicing lately, and it's KILLING me, so I'm just gonna pretend I didn't see this thread.

Oooh, I love them. It's something I'd like to do. I'm following slow's example and pretending I didn't see those really pretty gorgeous pieces!

Maria

Yeah, me too, I am also stuck with gardening for a while. Not that I dont enjoy, I do, but gosh I miss doing some hardcore cutting and glueing.
Bianchi

I couldn't help myself - I'm mortaring a few pieces on my bathroom counter. Weeds w/have to wait a few more days.

Hey... how is that counter going? start a WIP thread and post up Baby! lol

I KNEW you'd say that. Tomorrow - too pooped today, and that bathroom is an absolute disaster. Just got the wall painted yesterday, ready for a mirror and sconces. Didn't get much done today but w/start a WIP thread tomorrow.

For health reasons maybe you should sit and watch the kiln from afar. Those colorants that make the colors in the glass ain't good to breathe while they are firing.

I wanted to take a class in glass fusing but the teacher who taught it here quit last fall. She made slumped glass bowls from little strips of glass. It looked interesting and I could see some interesting possibilities when combined with my pottery and metal skills.

p

Pea! Metal skills??? Ohhhh, did you hear that Slow???
Gin! I still think you first projects are awesome!!! Jane

Not reading this thread, remember Jane???

Hey don't get excited its just hammering annealed copper and brass and some brazing and maybe a bit of silver jewelry soldering not welding with the big boys of metal. I'd love to learn to weld.

So these glass globs...I have a kiln and I have stained glass scraps...will stained glass scraps work? How do you keep the glass from sticking to the kiln shelf?

p

Pea, I was sitting several feet away, with the garage door open & a big fan blowing towards the kiln, out the garage. Kiln was also almost out the garage door anyway. I'm sure as I get more used to firing it I won't be out there as much, just peeking frequently.

I'm firing it up again either tomorrow or Monday, we'll see what kind of blobs I make this time! LOL

Drooooooooooooooooool.

Pea, you need kiln wash on your shelf to keep the glass from sticking, or some people use thinfire paper instead. If you do not prep your shelf the glass will stick and ruin both glass & shelf. Stained glass scraps cannot be fused together because you don't know if it's compatible. You must use glass that is the same COE & tested compatible. If you're interested in fusing go and read the tutorial at warmglass.com, it's a great place to start. Take a class if you can find one locally. There are also some good books available.

Here is a link that might be useful: Warm Glass Tutorial

Gin_Gin, don't worry about "colorants" in the glass emitting harmful fumes -- doesn't happen. As for other things that come into play in glass fusing, such as some refractory materials, those may often be a different story. Best to read up and get the facts (as you're already doing at warmglass.com, where you can always ask a question if you're ever in doubt about safety). There are other safety concerns in kilnformed glass, but the glass itself isn't one of them. (Except for the sharp edges, of course!)

I've heard that if you use glass that isn't the same COE, it could explode after you've taken it out of the kiln. I wouldn't just start sticking stuff in the kiln without a little research...

hee hee I stick stuff in the kiln all the time to um...experiment. It must be the potter in me cause I think potters love to see what will happen if you melt/burn/fire a new something. Some of my shards are going in the bottom of drink coasters to see what they look like...I've already tried marbles, metal shavings, the dust from the metal grinder etc.

Is it a special kiln wash? I use kiln wash for my pots but if glaze hits the shelf the kiln wash pulls up sticking to the glass glaze blob. I remember that teacher that taught glass slumping never had anything sticking to her glass bowl bottoms when she pulled it out of the kiln. I wish I could of taken that class.

I really think the glass colorant must give off fumes when heated, the color generally come from the same colorants as glazes(really just powdered glass/flux/oxides formulas on pots) and those colorant are unhealthy to be near when firing. You can smell/taste in the air when copper oxide melts so you must be breathing in some of those colorant's fumes. Here i found this, look at the inhalation hazards for #7. http://www.ci.tucson.az.us/arthazards/glass.html

off to visit warmglass...

p

Well, I'm in the same boat as Slow, I WILL NOT LOOK AT WARMGLASS.COM!!! no no no....

cause worse yet, I browsed the molds at Delphi last night.... oh to make all those wonderous things... to use in mosaics of course... no no no

Ya know I've always wanted to cause glaze blobs cause they come out so pretty(when created accidentally) but didn't want to mess my shelves up, this fiber paper/liner stuff they speak of...hmmm.

p

bump - lots of good info on warm glass

I will not go look at warm glass. I will not go look at warm glass. Ohhhhhhhh, I am in pain here. I absolutely refuse to think about kilns and slumping and all that fascinating stuff until I have whittled down the ten thousand pounds of mosaic stuff I have in the garage. Sigh . . . . . . .

Hey, you guys bumped up my old post! :o)
I'm kind of embarrassed to see those first pieces again (fugly!) because I've come a long way since then. The jewelry is a bit nicer now & I've actually sold quite a lot of it! Tomorrow I'll post a few new pics. Seeing the date on this thread reminded me I've been fusing almost a year. Warm glass is totally addictive. Do not try it unless you're prepared to be totally hooked!

those are gorgeous! i'd really love to learn how to do that.

my better half wants us to purchase one of those combination kilns at some point so we can do that and fire pottery as well.

No the first ones were ugly! LOL
Here's a few more recent pendants
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Here's a plate, has kind of a mosaic feel to it
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And for this one I logged several hours on the ring saw!
{{!gwi}}

I know how much y'all like crash glass, I fused some into a plate, looks kind of like ice.
{{!gwi}}
Ok, sorry for so many pics, I'm done now! :o)

Oh Gin Gin!! DO NOT APOLOGISE!!! LOVE IT!!! That dragonfly one is my fav!!! They are ALL nice tho! The world one is so amazing!! I'm glad to see some other glass stuff posted, even tho I'm drooling and want my own kiln now! We do seem to be a 99% mosaic forum these days!lol! Have you done earrings?

Yes I've done a few earrings, don't have any pics right now. My DH is my photographer, and he is in TX & I'm still here in FL (we're in the process of relocating) I can take some quick snapshots, but you can definitely tell the difference between my pics and the ones he takes with his fancy camera and the proper set up! If you like that dragonfly I've got to show you the other one I did where I cut the dragonfly shape out with the saw.

Well this strikes me speechless. The World is just spectacular, but the safety glass is too. These are tempting me again to get a kiln, but ....... just can't afford the time for another hobby.

Yesss..... come to the dark side.. I mean the WARM side. Hehe.

The broken tempered glass plate is just about the easiest thing I ever did. Just piled the tempered glass into the mold & fired.

Absoluteley stunning. I adore the plates! The crash glass one is amazing. You are truly an artist!

Beautiful work, gin_gin! LOVE the crash glass piece, but any of them would be right at home around my house!! LOL!!

BTW, where in our great state are ya'll relocating? (Hope it's someplace close........)

Pat

Funny, I was the first one to respond to this thread the last time around, and I don't remember it AT ALL! LOL! The crash glass one is DEFINITELY my favorite, and since it is SO Easy, you'll only charge me shipping to send it here to Arkansas, right?? LOVE that one! The rest are nice too, especially the globe, and the dragonfly, and the pink donut...

Thanks Ladies! Curb, We're moving to the Dallas area. Not sure which burb we'll wind up in yet, DH's job is in N. Dallas. Right now he's living in a tiny apartment in Flower Mound. The reason I'm still in FL is we can't afford to buy or rent a house until we can unload this one. The market here in S. FL is dreadful, so right now I am visiting him about once a month in Dallas.

Ronnie, the crash glass one is wayyy too fragile to ship ;o)