__kali__'s adventures in glass making

[kaliha]

Look at what I've been doing over the weekend!

Before Christmas I bought a microwave kiln so I could have a play at glass making without having to invest £500+ on a proper kiln. I finally got hold of a decent glass cutter and breaking pliers so I had at it this weekend.



Here's my kiln in my microwave. Making disturbing popping sounds. Bit scared.


top view. Bottom of kiln burnt. oops


Still glowing for about 2 minutes afterards.


My very first piece. Black and clear with glow in the dark glass dust in the middle. Unfortunately I dropped it and all the dust came off so I wiped it clean and fired it anyway. You can see little bubbles of air where the glue used to be.


My second attempt, again with the glow in the dark glass. This one went rather well. Maybe should have used more dust.


A successful attempt at tack fusing. Only thing is that one of the edges is still a little sharp.


Now I started to get a little bit more adventurous. Black and clear with a piece of dichroic in the middle (left). But when I cooked it for the required time, it only tack fused instead of melting together (middle). So I put it in again and slightly overdid it (right) so it puddled out slightly instead of keeping its edges. Darn it.

I've gone and ordered more fibre paper and other bits so I can carry on experimenting. My fibre paper and bits came to work today, unfortunately all the glass bits were sent to home (and I obviously wasn't there) so they're sat at the Post Office and I won't be able to pick them up until Friday. Woes.

Next thing I want to learn is cutting very thin pieces of glass (like 2mm/3mm wide). It can be done because my glass off-cuts contain strips about that wide, but when I try to do it, it just doesn't happen. Gah.

Comments

[dune-drd.livejournal.com]

Glow in the dark glass? Shiny.

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

I know. It's a bit flash. Unfortunately I've not used enough of it for it to really show up but it does look wicked undeer UV light.

[circe-tigana.livejournal.com]

this looks cool! please keep us updated on your progress!

[rhienelleth.livejournal.com]

Oooooh, I didn't know you were into jewelry making, much less messing about with glass - that is so awesome! I will be anxious to follow your progress.

I have a fear of flame, so I've never been tempted to play with glass myself, but I also didn't know such a thing as a microwave kiln existed.

[doylefan22.livejournal.com]

*is impressed by the pretty*

Looks like it's a lot of fun to experiment with. I don't really have your mad skillz at the mo though. I'm currently making a bracelet out of bicones using an idea from the handy page a day beading desk calendar I have this year.

[eruvadhril.livejournal.com]

Pretty!

[sal101010.livejournal.com]

This is very cool. I'm rather jealous! Looking forward to seeing more.

[spiralsheep.livejournal.com]

Fascinating.

[amybrown584.livejournal.com]

They look well good!

[l-i-z.livejournal.com]

Ooh they look really cool! I especially like the green ones :)

[gamiila.livejournal.com]

I don't really know what you're talking about (tack fusing?), but judging from the photographs I'd say your experiments are yielding some encouraging results. |Keep at it, and keep us posted on your progress!

[chicklet73.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, those shiny green ones at the bottom are especially gorgeous!!