First glass firing

Once the kiln was installed I purchased a range of glass in different colours, both transparent and clear.

The first firing was an experiment - I was not sure what would happen.

To get some idea I set up a long clear strip with a square of each of the transparent colours. The second large piece was a grid of transparent strips. As the middle blue was wide I added clear strips between the three outer coloured strips to keep an even glass mass, so that the finished surface would be reasonably level. This left voids either side of the centre blue strip.

The remaining space in the kiln was filled with little clumps of offcuts, some fusing glass and the others from my stained glass work - each clump of the latter having been cut from the same piece of glass to ensure that it was compatible.

Opening the kiln after firing is the best part of the process - seeing the newly formed glass.

 

The long test piece has made a nice 'suncatcher' as I had  moulded a tube through the top to take a suspension wire.

               

Fused glass produces a suncatcher with a very different quality that looks more natural and organic than the more usual 'stained glass' pieces. I enjoy the technical process of making 3D stained glass work, but for flat work think that fused glass looks far better.

 The grid of strips fused together, giving a woven effect. Some colours dominate the overlying glass and others merge. Being transparent the piece only looked good on a plain light coloured surface. After a while I decided to tack fuse it onto an opaque white base so that it would look better and could be used as a plate stand.

The small clumps were mainly successful, and could be used as jewelery, although some of the streaky glass was dull after firing. I assume the dulness is a product of the type of glass, as it is finished and not intended for further fusing.