WarmGlass.com

Hi Ya'll,

I'm getting ready for my second show this weekend. The first, last weekend, went reasonably well.Of course I'm in a hurry. Am trying to make Christmas ornaments and wanted to make snowflakes. It's odd, but I've never tried this before (not snowflakes). Will a single layer of glass fuse together if it is touching, not overlapping or connected by another layer. I am mostly a lampworker who "fell into" fusing as a result of having a kiln. I love fusing but learning is slow while I divide my time between the two - and a few other interests! This forum is so wonderful and ALL glass people of every kind I have come across are so incredibly generous with their time and knowledge. I can test this out tomorrow, but at this point it would save me a day to know if this will work.

Thanks so much,

Sharon

artisand wrote:Will a single layer of glass fuse together if it is touching, not overlapping or connected by another layer.

No.

Glass wants to be a particular thickness. Volume control is what you are playing with when you assemble a piece to fire.

6mm is how thick "fusing" glass wants to be, so if you use a single thickness (3mm) it will try to pull in to thicken up when at full fuse temps and you won't get what you started with . At tack fuse temps you should get some lamination and it won't distort too much, but it will be very fragile...and of course, you have to overlap to get it to laminate.

You'll get better success and more predictable results if you use a full 6mm of glass thickness.

Got It! Thanks!

Sharon

Sharon,

I've been toying around with frit and powder and have achieved snowflake like results even though that is not what I was after.

Try putting a very thin layer of medium/fine frit (probably white if you want a snowflake) on your shelf and then dust liberally with powder. When taken to full fuse it will fuse together and may leave random holes of varying size. If the layer is too deep the holes won't happen.

There is considerable cleanup/cold working because of all the needles but with some experimenting you might be able to get some lacey snowflakes.

The Hobbyist....................................Jim