Firing the kiln... and the laws of glass

Even I can't overlook the laws of glass. Glass at full fuse temperatures wants to be 6mm thick. That's something that's important to remember if you're mixing different colors...especially when they're not the same thickness.


See those sharp edges and bubbles? Well, that's what happens when you mix 2mm and 3mm glass...don't add enough to make up for the missing volume AND fire it with a piece that is all 3mm and don't add extra soak time for things to smooth out. But that's OK, those champagne bubbles are a sign of hand crafting, right? Some work with the grinder and we'll have those edges cleaned up and be ready to slump this little bugger.



Now the pink one turned out much better. It was all 3mm glass, so I didn't have the air bubble issue...and the edges are nice and smooth. It still needs a little bit of cold working, but not nearly as much as the purple.

Fusing glass is teaching me patience. I put these in the kiln with the electronic controller, so I had no excuses to be peeking in the kiln. Waiting up until the kiln is cool enough to open is not an option when you don't fire till mid to late afternoon. And now I get to fire them AGAIN!!!! I can see the need to have several kilns so you can have several projects going at once....but I don't think that's gonna happen.

I'm certainly going to be less casual about buying 2mm or 3mm glass, that's for sure! And I'll be spending a lot more time practicing cutting my glass so that it breaks in nice, clean lines. Because there are some circle projects I want to play around with....and I KNOW that the circle cutter is going to tax my knowledge of words I can say in other languages.

Stripes and scrap glass

If there's something that a few hours cutting glass will give you, it's an appreciation for skills that you developed and let slide...for whatever reason. Who would have thought that retraining the hands and eyes to cut small, even strips of glass would generate so much angst (and scraps!)

After several hours in the corner, here's what I have.

What you don't...and won't...see are all of the pieces that are in the scrap drawers.

Here are some relearned lessons:
1. Scoring glass is a standing up activity.
2. Measure twice, score once.
3. Never plan on your last piece of glass for a project....see above comment about scraps.

These pieces aren't "anything" as I explained to the hubby. I needed to jump back in and do something, so I grabbed a tutorial from Bullseye, modified it with the 9" strips didn't happen (see lesson #3) and this is the result.