… try, try, try again. That is exactly what happened to this fused glass piece.

The first step in making a fused glass dish is to take pieces of glass and place them on a shelf in the kiln and fully fuse the pieces to make a single flat piece of glass. In this process the side of glass that is against the kiln shelf will always have some texture. It picks up the texture from the glass separator that keeps the glass from sticking to the shelf. The kiln shelf side also has a matte finish while the top side is glossy. In the next step the piece is slumped into a mold with either side up, but normally the glossy side up. On this piece I chose to slump it with the kiln shelf side up. At the end of this post is a picture with pieces ready to be slumped where you can see the difference. Two of the pieces are kiln shelf side up.

Unfortunately I was disappointed with the result. The matte finish was not consistently even. In some areas it looked less matte. My guess is it had something to do with the mold being thicker in those areas retaining more heat. I can’t really be sure. But I was sure that I didn’t like it. So the piece went back into the kiln for a third time. The now slumped piece was slowly heated to let it fall flat again. The fourth and final slumping had a much better result. Almost perfect! Yes, almost. When the piece slumped down into the mold one side was lower than the other. Possible reasons for this include heating too quickly, the piece was too large for the mold, or the opalescent glass slumped down before the transparent glass. It is not very noticeable, but enough so that this piece won’t be for sale in my shop.

If you are a fused glass beginner and a subscriber to Bullseye Glass Education on line check out the video lesson Slumping Basics. If you you are not a subscriber learn more here: Bullseye Kiln-glass Education Online

[Show as slideshow]