Fused Glass – Lemons to Lemonade
Opened the kiln this morning to find this…
It might be hard to see at first, but the top layer of glass cracked as it was heating up; usually the result of heating up too quickly. The bottom layer was a transparent cobalt blue that “seeped” up into the crack of the lighter blue as it continued heating up and fuse together. I used the same firing schedule that I used on another piece that turned out perfect. The only difference on this one was that I used kiln shelf paper instead of kiln wash. I rarely use shelf paper, but occasionally I don’t have a prepared shelf ready to go. And in this case I was too impatient (and maybe lazy) to prep one and wait for it to cool down enough to use. I can’t imagine that the shelf paper made a difference, but who knows.
Here is a picture of the back of the piece.
Lemons to lemonade I say!
I cut the piece up on my tile saw. Instead of one large tray, I will now have a smaller plate, a small channel plate, and some components for an as yet to be designed project. The crack will actually end up being a great design element.
I love the positivity! I’ve soon learnt with fused glass that it will take me down a different path that I planned.
Beautiful work – very inspiring.
Thanks Rebecca!
Hi, Margot, this is years later, but please tell me about the striped glass: Did you make it? If so, how? Thanks!
The striped glass are thin strips of cut glass that I stand on edge. Usually I cut 6mm wide strips. In this particular case I cut 9mm wide strips because I was fusing 3 layers of glass together.