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I would like to fuse fiberglass mesh to copper or high temp wire forms. I envision draping the mesh over the wire infrastructure as opposed to using a mold. Does anyone have any experience, advice, etc. to share? Thank you.

I think Rick and a few others might have better answers to this, but it may not be as easy as it seems, and it'll depend on exactly what kind of fiberglass mesh you're talking about. Fiberglass is made with at least three types of glass, from pure silica to S-2 glass (and those are only the ones I've heard of). They usually have softening points well above standard fusing glass (for example, a Bullseye glass softening point might be 1250F/677C; S-2 has a softening point of 1933F/1056C), so you may have trouble getting them to fuse without a lot of heatwork.

Also, some fiberglass strands are composed of glass plus polymer. I'm not familiar enough with that technology to know whether any of that stuff is used in mesh, but it would certainly complicate your fusing efforts if it is.

Possibly there are other approaches, though--what do you envision as the end result?

I agree with morganica. All the fibreglass cloth I've come across has had the individual fibres coated with a polymer like substance. This would be done so that fibreglass resins are able to easily wet the cloth. In my experience heating the cloth does burn off the resin but it leaves the cloth brittle. Perhaps the fibres readily de-vitrify.

Thank you both for the input. I envision making small body parts for non-usable marionettes. The marionettes will become part of a contemporary art installation. The idea came from a piece by Takashi Ishizeki, which I saw in the Corning Museum New Glass in Review 32 book (page 22). He lists his media as fused glass fiber and copper wire. From the photo of the piece I estimate that the fiber has a mesh of approximately 32 x 32 holes per square inch, which of all the different fibers I have seen online would be closest to window screening. I have not found a way to contact the artist to ask him what type of fiber he used.