Learning Curve

One of the things that first attracted me to working with glass was the intensity of the transparent colors.  The first piece I made reflects this interest.  It was made using scrap glass from a big bin of discarded bits and pieces.

Scrap project using plate glass, stringers, confetti, and frit from a large bin of discarded pieces - from the top image

Although the colors are not particularly accurate in this image (i.e., the colors on your screen are NOT the colors of the actual glass, you get the idea of the color possibilities I was exploring with this very primitive crab.

Scrap project using plate glass, stringers, confetti, and frit from a large bin of discarded pieces - from the bottom image

This is also the first time I learned an important lesson - glass colors may NOT be what they appear to be.  The three bubbles above the crab appeared to be discarded clear circles in  the heap.  Once fired, I learned that these were clear REACTIVE glass, which looks clear before firing, and turns translucent white after firing.

I have since learned several lessons under the heading of ".....all glass is NOT transparent!"  Solid opalescent sheet glass, for example, may fire the color it appears to be when in a "new" sheet, OR it may become another color.  Pimento red glass coming out of the kiln, for example, begins as a sunny, warm yellow.  Fired canary yellow begins as an unassuming, pale spring green.

Some solid transparent sheets can also surprise you in this before and after transformation triggered by heat.

So, what is the solution to these chameleon-like glass properties?  Keep the code number ON you glass AND keep the company catalog (Bullseye, for example,) within arm's reach!  When you plan to construct with a lovely pumpkin orange (1322,) for example, decide if the magenta color it turns once fired will still make a stunning piece of candy corn for that Halloween decor or will the pale green (1025) feel like a delicate spring stem and leaves in shocking orange.

Recently I made a small pair of button earrings and planned to glue posts on the back and wear them with denim.  The layers of the glass I used started with French vanilla on the bottom, cyan frit in the middle, and 'what I though was a clear cap' on the top.  As you may have guess, the clear cap was really some clear reactive as in the bubbles in the crab above, and so my lovely blue and white buttons were a hazy white - not what I had planned and very disappointing.

I would like to say I learned from this mistake and have been sure not to repeat it, however........

HAPPY PI DAY! (3.14.16)

An Unfurlled Flag

Although each of the individual pieces of the starfish, now turned star, were varying sizes of squares, the smaller of these become very rounded when fired.  Notice that the larger pieces also have rounded corners, but still look very square-like.  This is a basic law of physics in action; when the  molecules of a liquid can move, the surface pulls together to occupy the smallest space possible.  The glass squares did not become spheres because they were lying on a flat surface to more significantly interrupt the surface tension.....gravity has a "hand" in that as well.

To make this image look more like the cells of an actual starfish, I would need to have smaller buttons of glass or be creating the image on a larger background....this helps explain the transition from starfish to star.

I also learned a very valuable lesson with this project.  Notice the pattern underneath the transparent brown topaz glass that look something like a molting snake skin.  This is the fired remains of the piece of paper I had drawn the starfish pattern on and slid underneath the glass to use as a guide for constructing the starfish.  No amount of soap, acetone, or vigorous scrubbing with a stiff bristle brush could remove this pattern.  It's as if something in the paper the pattern was drawn on left a chemical residue or signature etched into the glass - lesson learned!

As of today, I have not slumped this piece of assembled and fused glass into a plate, platter, or bowl.  I just can't decide if I want a companion dish for the sand dollar mini-platter, of if this would work as a cheese tray just fine if it remains flat.  For now, people want to know what state the "star flag" represents....let me know if you have a clever answer!

A Second Rectangle

I began work on a companion plate planning the image to be the same stripes on one end  and a starfish on the other end.  The stripe pattern looks very similar; four French vanilla and four brown topaz, alternating stripes. 

Stripe end of starfish rectangle.

For the starfish, I started by firing a variety of sizes of French vanilla squares.  Once fired, small pieces have rounded corners, and very small pieces actually look like dots (the candy that used to come on big strips of paper,) or buttons. 

Stripe end of sand dollar rectangle.

I placed a drawn pattern underneath the clear brown topaz square of glass, and began assembling the star shape.  In this early stage, the roundish blobs resembled a starfish in the same crude was the cut stringers and ovals resembled a sand dollar. 

Sand Dollar Serving Plate

I was surprised by how may air bubbles appeared in the edges of this plate, whee it is clear glass.  I used this glass as the anchor where all of the image pieces were attached.  There is no glue added to anchor the bigger pieces of glass to the clear base, and yet there are more bubbles around the edges of the darker glasses than in the middle.

Glass plate using French vanilla, brown topaz plate and stringer glass, and clear glass.

The bubble pattern is consistent around the edges of the glass with color on both the stripe end and the sand dollar end of this place. 

Sand dollar serving plate

I have always been intrigued by functional art, like the glass plate below.  I want to explore using these rectangular spaces for image creation and display.  This is the perfect size for a little hors d'oeuvres or cracker plate!  Just add a knife and a little food!  FYI - these creations are "HAND WASH ONLY!"

Sand dollar serving plate.

Reactive Glass When Not Provoked

French vanilla glass, which is wonderfully reactive when next to cyan, simply fires to a creamy while when not provoked to react.  Next to a clear brown topaz, French vanilla just does its own thing.  In the stripe pattern in the first image below, both glass colors hold their own and maintain a non-reactive edge. 

Bands of French vanilla and brown topaz capped with clear glass.

When assembled in an image, as in the pseudo sand dollar below, both glasses maintain their integrity.

Assembly of French vanilla on brown topaz, and enhanced with brown topaz stringers and hand-ground and shaped pieces.  Pre-fired brown topaz "button" in the middle.

These two patterns, stripes, and the sand dollar are combined with a clear cap to be double fired. 

Corner of Sand dollar/stripe plate with edges.

 The first firing fused all of the individual pieces together and the second firing "slumped" the rectangle into a serving-plate shape. 

Glue

Another element that has been consistent in all of these trial pieces is the use of glue to hold the small pieces in place to facilitate the transfer from the board on which they were created and the kiln shelf.

In the first piece below, there is only one piece of large, clear frit in the entire piece, and yet the large air bubble is to one side of this chunk.  Is it the gas trying to escape from around the frit chunk OR the moisture from the glue trying to escape?????

Clear, reactive on the bottom, green and periwinkle fine frit and one large, clear chunk of frit in the middle, and clear on the top

No glue was used in the assembly of the piece below and yet there are air bubbles throughout the piece, although small ones. 

Clear, reactive on the bottom, fine cyan frit, French vanilla fine frit, and large clear chunks of frit in the middle, topped with clear glass.

Gas/Air Escape Route?

Just when I thought I had the bubble pattern when using chunky, clear frit figured out, the trials below proved me wrong.   As you look at the first example, notice the large number of clear, chunky frit pieces in the lower left-hand quadrant.  There are a minimum of seven good sized frit chunks, and yet only a couple of small bubbles over this area. 

Bottom layer  - reactive clear, next layer - cyan blue fine frit, French vanilla fine frit, and large clear frit, topped with clear COE 90.

 In the previous examples in which a grouping of large, clear frit resulted in large air bubbles directly above the center of the frit, the chunks were centrally located in the piece.  In the example above, the chunks are much closer to an edge.  Is it possible that there was an equivalent amount of gas/air release, but the proximity to the edge allowed the gas/air to escape before gravity and heat did their work to seal the escape-route?  The bubbles that have remained are toward the outside edges of the area.......

Bottom layer  - reactive clear, next layer - cyan blue fine frit, French vanilla fine frit, large clear frit, and fregments of sliver foil, topped with clear COE 90.

 As with all glass firings, there are many variables that play into the effects achieved in the final piece.  In the piece above, the area to the middle-lower left with large, clear frit chunks is bubble free, but the similar area toward the top left has several bubbles - a couple pretty large.   Although it looks like the bubbles are attempting to escape upwards, the piece was actually fired horizontally.g   The grayish material in between these two areas is not frit, but fragments of silver foil.  This, too, could be a reactive location creating the need for a gas/air escape route!

Bottom layer  - reactive clear, next layer - cyan blue fine frit, French vanilla fine frit, and large clear frit, topped with clear COE 90.

To minimize the variables, both this batch of trials and those in the previous blog were fired together, so speed of heating, cooling, or other interior kiln conditions were similar for all of these pieces.