A month or so ago I signed-up to take a Fused Glass Jewelry Class through Kirkwood Community College's Continuing Education Program. It is a four Saturday class at Wapsi Glassworks. Those who follow the blog know that I have taken multiple classes at the Ceramic Center Glass Studio across the street from my home, but I thought it would be fun to learn from a new instructor in a new environment.
Little did I know at the time that I would be without my home studio ... so the several hour respite of creating was sorely needed yesterday. It turned out that I was the only one who signed-up for the class, so I also had the instructor and tools to myself, which was a pleasant surprise. The studio space was amazing with standing height tables, which is how I prefer to work.
We started by making dichroic glass beads that we will make into a necklace last week. I learned there are two ways you can fuse dichroic glass that yield two very different effects. The left side is an almost 3-D effect achieved by putting the dichroic side of the glass down ... the right is the more standard design with the dichroic glass facing up ... both are fused to black glass.
Since I have pieces with the effect on the right, I decided to go with the effect on the left using a clear copper dichroic like the one in the photo.
The trick is figuring which side is which. I had to position the tiny pieces so they reflected in the light to try to determine the two sides (and hope I got it right after they fused).
This was the first time I ever got to place my own pieces in the kiln (in my prior classes you assemble the pieces and leave them on a rack to be taken to the kiln later). What that meant is that I didn't have to glue each piece together, which was a welcome change of process. I will use 11 of the pieces to make a bracelet and the remaining four pieces for earrings next week.
One of the cool things about this kiln is that it had a window in the top, so I could actually look through and see the glass change through its various phases.
I also got to put on a welder's glove and be the one to open the kiln when the pieces reached the stage of melting that I wanted.
It was so fun to be more involved in the actual process of making the pieces. The blue pendant is dichroic-side-up with a smaller piece of clear glass placed over the top to produce a similar 3-D effect. How gorgeous is that coppery sparkle.
The next project was to pick different pieces of dichroic glass to fuse into a rectangle. After the piece fuses, I will get to learn how to use a saw to cut it into pieces for pendants and earrings. I have never seen such a massive assortment of this gorgeous glass ... it was so hard to choose ... but so fun (I was wearing the timer to remind me to check on my glass in the kiln).
On the bottom right is the sample I was given to show me what I was making. I chose the dichroic piece with the squares as the base for my design (you can see the squares more vibrantly towards the top of the strip of glass). Then I chose silver, aqua and purple solids to accent it.
I cut and assembled the pieces of glass and then framed them with stripes of black glass (that is significantly cheaper and will be cut away when the piece is finished). Any ideas for how I should cut it? I know I want some triangles for sure.
Can't wait to go back for next week's class. In addition to learning how to use the saw, I may be playing with some sandblasting on glass, as well as applying some decals for pendants.
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JINGLE BELLES
