Monday, March 24, 2008

The Before



Yesterday I felt pretty creative so I worked with my glass. Before all was done, I had created two pieces. I really enjoy this process of being creative. I walk around during the course of my day and images pop into my head of the patterns and designs I would like to create. I need to start walking around with a pad so I can sketch out my designs so I do not forget them.

After work tomorrow I will take the two pieces by the glass studio to be fused. What happens is I create the design and then pay the glass studio to fire the pieces in the kiln for me. The glass goes through two firings. The first firing is the fusing of the glass. There are also two types of fusings. You have tack fusing where you will end up with a bumpy glass. The two pieces do not completely melt into each other. The other type of fusing is called full fusing where you heat the glass up enough so that they melt into one sheet of glass. After that has been done and the glass cools down you go through the slumping phase. This is second firing where you take your glass and place it on top of a mold. It is then heated again in the kiln long enough so that it takes the shape of the mold.

I am slowly learning and getting more and more creative with each piece I create. The two photos shown in this blog show how the two pieces I have made look before I have sent them to be fired. I will do a full fuse on these and slump them into a small platter. Glass is not always predictable, a lot of variation can occur. And glass can change color once it is heated up, so the color you start off with could end up being something else.


Once I pick up the pieces from the studio I will show you what the end result turned out to be.


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