New Experiment - WIP

I have had these piece of glass cut for about a week and didn't really like what I had planned for so I just left it and left it...and left it.....until now! I saw a pattern quite similar to this on a tutorial for fused glass except it use different sizes and more glass etc...

Anyway this is the before photos of my test. It is using three different coloured glass in purples and also 'Wildberry' frit.

I have looked at the end result in the kiln and I think I have fused it too much however I will see how it turns out when I get it out of the kiln later.

WIP Complete

Well this is the finished product of my Rods WIP posted below. I have linked the title of this post to the related post for easy access. The glass hasn't come out totally smooth. Where the purple stripe is across the middle of the cab it is a little dull and a little rough. I'm not sure why this has happened. Although I LOVE the way the top of the cab has come out and totally mixed the pink purples and white..mmmm! Might have to try this experiment again. I can always glue a metal charm into the front of this cab to cover up the rough patch.

Front view

Back view

Dirty marks on the glass - devitrification

Well after some searching on how to use the fire rope I recently got from Pearls Creations, I found out why I was getting those dirty marks on the glass after grinding it and firing it again.

It is called devitrification. Any grime left from the grinding process may cause devitrification in further firings. So it is important to always wash the glass throughly after grinding. I have found this out now! I thought I had washed it enough but obviously not. I already have another piece which I have used the grinder on ready to be fire so I hope that this doesn't leave any dirty marks. But we will soon see.

I have new photos to put up and some more experiments so I will post them up soon. Going to have some lunch now!

WIP - update

Well the firepaper came off fine! It did leave it a little bit rough so I have fused it again to smooth it all out. Funny thing was though there seemed to be all these brownish marks on the cab. I have no idea what it could be? So I grinded them away as well and the cab was a little rough but looked a lot better. It's all fused now however I think there were brown marks forming again when I fused it this time too.

WIP - Using rods again

Well today I thought while I had some spare time I would play with the rods that I had cleaned a week or more ago. These are in a pretty pink, purple and pinky/purple colour. The colours are a little hard to see in the picture below. I am using a different camera to usual plus dodgy lighting =


The edges of the rods were a little rough so I decided to use my dremel to grind the edge a little more neat. They aren't as good as I wanted but then again I don't want it perfect.
To hold the rods in place in the kiln this time I decided to make a little craddle type of thing with the fire paper. I didn't want to fold the edges up too much incase the fire paper fell in on the glass when its being burnt off.
However one side thought it would fall in on the glass. So this isn't the full fuse. I have left this to cool off and hopefully the fire paper will just wash off but if not then I will grind it away a little bit and fuse it again so it'll be nice and smooth. Work In Progress