Glass Raking
More show and tell from my visit to Glass Craft Bead and Expo in Las Vegas!
This is a close up of a piece that implemented the raking technique.
The Process
I cut about 45 strips of glass 3/8” x 5.5 inches. All of the glass was Spectrum 96. Most of the strips were clear. Several of the strips were Spirit Valhalla. Only two strips were turquoise blue strips. I stacked all the strips vertically next to each other and then randomly placed three black stringers on top. The whole thing was dammed and place in the kiln. When the glass was hot enough to manipulate, the kiln was turned off. I took a raking rod and pulled it through the top layers of the glass in a swirl pattern. The kiln was turned back on to allow the glass to even out and then annealed.
What I Learned
The raking technique turned out to be a lot less scary then I thought it would be. I also learned that a little color goes a long way in this technique. The 2 strips of turquoise in this piece added a lot of color.
Stunning piece. I’ve been interested in trying raking for awhile … now I need to! 🙂
Thanks Kris. Unfortunately, I haven’t done anything with it yet. It’s at least 1/2″ thick. Some day I’m going to take up to a full fuse and let it settle down. Then I’ll cut it and slump it. There is always something we need to do! 🙂