Added Some Glass Spoon Rests to My Website

This is one of the new glass spoon rests that I have added to my website: www.mastersglassart.com

I made a template of the glass spoon rest on heavy cardstock. I glued the templates onto a piece of Spectrum System 96 Clear Glass and a piece of Spectrum System 96 White Glass (www.spectrum.com). I cut the glass around the template, then I ground the edges to get the right shape of glass.

I had my husband put a design on the top of the white glass. He chose an abstract design with red glass. I full fused these two layers of glass plus the red pieces of glass on top. When the glass had fused into one piece of glass, I slumped it into a glass spoon rest mold.

Christine

Check out my Fused Glass Creations!
www.mastersglassart.com

Check out my other Glass Blog!
http://glassart.wordpress.com

Glass Candle Bridge

This is one of my newest creations! I bought a candle bridge mold and slumped and draped a piece of black iridized glass over the mold. I had only made one before the last Craft Fair in March and it sold!! Since then, I have made another one, except I fused two pieces of the black iridized glass together. Using two layers of glass really makes the candle bridge very strong. I really love the new one. I just made it last week, so I will take a picture of it as soon as I can.

Christine

Check out my Fused Glass Creations!
www.mastersglassart.com

Check out my other Glass Blog!
http://glassart.wordpress.com

Shopping Weekend for Glass and Other Miscellaneous Items

We just got back from Portland, Oregon where we went to Bullseye Glass (www.bullseyeglass.com) to buy a bunch of glass, some glass frit and glass stringers. We bought all these things wholesale, so we got a great price! If you buy $1,000 worth of items, you get 50% off. We were aiming for the $1,000, but went overboard and spent $1,200 (half off: $600)
We also bought two new kilns from Georgies (www.georgies.com)!! We bought a small Skutt Firebox (www.skutt.com) for fusing jewelry and just testing glass before making a large piece. We were able to bring this one home with us. The other kiln we bought is a big one. It is a Skutt 1414 with a lid lifter and a small viewing window. We had to get that one delivered and we should get it in a couple of weeks.

I will be able to fuse several pieces of glass at one time and then slump those fused pieces into glass bowls, glass plates, glass spoon rests, glass candle holders all at the same time.
Now I will be able to make a whole bunch more glass at one time. My first kiln is an old Skutt 181 and it had manual controls, so I spent a lot of time sitting by the kiln and watching the temperature and turn the kiln up or down or hold for a certain amount of time. My new Skutt 1414 has a controller, so I can program it, and won’t have to spend any time watching it. I am sooo excited about the controller!!

Keep checking back as I begin to make lots more glass at one time!! Check out my website (www.mastersglassart.com) where I will put a lot of the glass items.

Christine — Glass Artist


Check out my Fused Glass Creations!
www.mastersglassart.com

Check out my other Glass Blog!
http://glassart.wordpress.com

Funky Basketweave Pendant

You are probably getting tired of me talking about basketweaves and how I just love doing them. However, this one is different. It is a pendant! I haven't made any pendants until this one. I did a similar one in a light blue.

I think I will cut some strips of dichroic glass with a clear background and do a couple more pendants. I also think I will place the strips closer to each other, so there won't be any holes.

I just had a thought! I keep telling you that I love the basketweave look. I can't remember if I told you that I used to weave a lot of baskets. My thought was to take a picture of one or two of my baskets and show you what they look like. What do you think? Would you like to see some of my baskets?

Christine


Check out my Fused Glass Creations!
www.mastersglassart.com

Check out my other Glass Blog!
http://glassart.wordpress.com

Purple Glass Basketweave Bowl

I love this glass basketweave piece!! I cut strips, 1/2" wide, from a piece of Fusible Purple Opal Art Glass made by Spectrum System96 (www.spectrum.com). I also cut the same size strips from Spectrum System96 Clear Glass. I made sure I kept the purple glass strips in the exact order that I cut them from the glass, so I would keep the pattern of the glass.

The purple glass is all laid down horizontally and the clear glass is laid down vertically. To get a basketweave effect, I laid half of the purple strips on the bottom, then I laid half of the clear on top of the purple and then I repeated those steps. I had four layers of glass which I put in my kiln and fused it so there was some dimension in the strips. I then put the fused strips in a bowl mold to get the rounded shape.

Christine


Check out my Fused Glass Creations!
www.mastersglassart.com

Check out my other Glass Blog!
http://glassart.wordpress.com

Lacy Yellow on Black Glass

Isn't this a neat plate? I made some yellow glass lace and then fused it to two layers of black glass. Then I slumped the entire glass piece in a square slumper mold.

The glass lace is really fun to make. I have been experimenting with it for a couple of months now. Most of the first ones I made were disasters. They weren't lace at all. Sometimes I would get a solid piece of glass and other times I would get only a couple of large holes.

I have gotten better at it. Right now, I have a drop mold vase that has glass lace fused to it in my kiln right now. I think it will turn out really nice.

Sometime, I will describe how I make glass lace.

Christine

Check out my Fused Glass Creations!
www.mastersglassart.com

Check out my other Glass Blog!
http://glassart.wordpress.com

Really Cool Glass Vase

Don't you just love this cute little vase? I finished this vase a couple of days ago and I love how it turned out.

First, I fused two layers of clear glass (System 96) together that was 5" in diameter. Then I placed bits of glass, stringers and frit on top of the clear glass. I set up my 5" drop ring mold at a height of 3". I fired up the kiln to 1100 degrees and let it soak for 45 minutes. This allowed the colored glass to fuse slightly to the clear which saved a firing. After the soak, I slowly increased the temperature to 1300 degrees and held it until the clear glass fell through the ring and down to the kiln shelf.

I love this one so much, I have already started making a larger vase. The clear glass will be 7 1/2" in diameter and I will use my 9" drop ring mold. I am considering making this vase 6" tall, so I will need three layers of clear glass with the colored glass, frit and stringers on top.

Let me know what colors you think I should use for this vase. I'd love to hear what you have in mind!!

Christine



Check out my Fused Glass Creations!
www.mastersglassart.com

Check out my other Glass Blog!
http://glassart.wordpress.com

Blue Daisy Sun Catcher

This is a recently fused glass sun catcher I made a couple of weeks ago. I really had fun making this one! Take a close look at the blue petals. Some of them show some different colors, like purple. The blue glass is iridized, meaning it has a metallic coating on it that reflects many colors. When you see it in person and move it around with a light source behind it, it shows so many other colors. It is such a cool glass!!

The petals took awhile to make, so this glass sun catcher is really a labor of love! I hate to sell it on my website, because I love it so much. However, I can always make another one, so no worries.

I first did a full fuse of two layers of Spectrum 96 clear glass. After shaping and grinding all the glass pieces of the flower, I placed the flower pieces on the clear glass and did a medium tack fuse. I wanted the glass flower pieces to have some dimension.

A full fuse means that I completely fused the two layers of glass to each other to make one solid piece of glass. I heated the kiln up to 1475 degrees until the two layers became one piece. Then I cooled the kiln down very slowly -- this is called annealing. The glass is very durable when it is properly annealed.

A medium tack fuse means that I didn't completely fuse the glass flower pieces to the clear glass. I didn't heat the kiln up as hot; I only went up to 1400 degrees. The glass flower pieces have melted slightly into the clear glass, but not completely. The flower has some dimension.

Christine


Check out my Fused Glass Creations!
www.mastersglassart.com

Check out my other Glass Blog!
http://glassart.wordpress.com