Striped Oval Cuff Linksshown in cherry, pearl and black
How I make striped glass.
(click on each picture to enlarge image)
How does this happen? It takes a bit more effort than making a flat color.
I wanted to share with you how I create stripes in fused glass.
Enjoy!
I wanted to share with you how I create stripes in fused glass.
Enjoy!
I start at the glass cutting table with thin rolled (1/8" thick) flat glass in opaques, transparent and dichroic (metal coated glass) glass.
I use "dichroic" glass as the middle layer to give my colors that reflective quality. I use dichroic glass in most of my work. However, I detest the term "dichroic jewelry." It is glass jewelry.
I determine how wide I want the stripes. I usually have a previous piece of glass I am looking at before I begin.
I use a straight edge and a hand held glass cutter and I score and snap off the stick of glass.
I also have to cut the dichroic strips. It's important to get the stripe widths as uniform as possible.
I start to assemble the colors on a base layer. This is a little square kiln shelf I am building the layers on. It has a separation coating on it so the glass won't stick.
I hand cut all the different stripe layers and assemble them in some sort of order that matches my sample.
I tend to do each color layer at a time. All the elements are down and I cover the entire square with a piece of clear glass to help hold it together as it melts together in the kiln.
This is my baby kiln. I got her at the Salvation Army thrift store in Redondo Beach CA for ten dollars! (they had no idea what it was) The computer that runs the kiln, well, that cost a lot. The computer will run the cycle of the firing for the glass.
You know the tool you can't live without? This is it for me.
Okay, back to the stripes. Amazing. They melted together!
I mark off how I want to cut this puppy up!
Using a diamond trim saw I cut out the shapes I like.
I finish it off by grinding the shape on a flat lapidary diamond wheel. The work goes back into the kiln to polish the edges. Then the glass is ready to be set in silver.
You can see the complete process on my "Process" page.
You can see the complete process on my "Process" page.
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