Trial and error

I have been trying to make some glass fused cabochons to use in my Margie & Me piece this week but for some reason I just can't get the colours right.

Not that it matters too much as I am still happy with the results and am sure they can be used at another time.

What do you think?

I have another cooling in the kiln as I write this post so hopefully it will turn out better than these two.

♥

Wednesday Wisdom

Take a photo of your piece before and after fusing it in the kiln

When doing any kind of glass fusing I find it very handy to take before and after photos of my pieces. 

I have made quite a few pieces which I have, without tooting my own horn too much, been very happy with and have wanted to create a complete set of the same cab. 

Nothing is more frustrating than being happy with a piece you have created, wanting to make another one just the same only to forget what frits you used and how you positioned the frit and/or glass.

Simple pieces aren't too much of a problem if it's just a matter of sprinkling on the frit but if you are building up a piece with glass or trying to create a mosaic effect then this idea comes in very handy.

Here are some before and after shots of some easy cabs I made. 

I'd show you some pics of my more creative pieces but that'd just be giving away my secrets!

~~~

- Citrus Zing cabs before going in the kiln -

- Citrus Zing cabs after -

Be sure to check out Life, Craftiness and Everything Else for more 

Wednesday  Wisdom.

In the mean time here are a few more of the cabs I have made in the past. 

What do you think?

♥

Look what came out of my garage!

I haven't made any cabs in a while because it's just too cold of an evening in the garage where my microwave kiln is set up but on Friday night I braved the cold and created a few new ones. Thankfully our garage is attached to the house and not a mile away!

I have only used translucent glass. The fiber paper doesn't seem to stick to it like it does with the other glasses...I have no idea why...I guess it is one of those unresolved mysteries!

I have to say though I am loving the clear glass - the frits seem to blend beautifully.

What do you think?

Raku Bones

I finally did some glass fusing a few days ago and here are the results... some gorgeous cabochons!

I absolutely love raku. I only ever had a really chunky raku frit but I recently got given some finer grade and it is soooo nice. 

Rather than sticking with the usual shaped cabs I make in round or oval I consciously stopped fusing these ones before they started to form to achieve this different look.

My little man thinks the first two look like dog bones!

Thank you Mr Kandinsky and Mr Leger

The Australian Beading Forum of which I am a member of is currently running a "swap" in which you are assigned a partner and you are required to make something for each other. The theme of the last swap I took part in was Morocco so I was even more excited to learn that the theme of this swap was 

"Art Inspired" 

Back in 1992 I visited Masterpieces from the Guggenheim at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Ohhh what an amazingly wonderful exhibition. I had studied many of the artists on display - Picasso, Dali, Kandinsky, Leger, Chagall and Klee just to name a few. 

I have to admit that my favourite artist is the one and only Pablo Picasso and to see his paintings up close was an experience I will never forget. I can still remember the excitement of seeing his painting, The Studio, painted in 1928 it was sadly showing every year of its age with the paint looking very cracked and fragile.

Having a theme like "Art Inspired" really is a treat. I have so many favourite artists who inspire me, who I adore and who I aspire to be like. As much as I adore Picasso I was drawn to the energy and colour of Kandinsky and Leger.

So without further ado here is my piece

Art Inspired 
by

Deep Brown
by Vasily Kandinsky

and 

Men in the City
by Fernand Leger

The gorgeous glass fused cabochon was made by my very talented husband. He has a way with glass and creating mosaic style pieces like this - I guess unlike me he has the patience when piecing the little tiny pieces of glass together which is quite funny as unlike me he has absolutely no patience with seed beads!

I have to be modest here and admit that I adore this piece. I love the colour, I love the cabochon and I love the memories it brings back of my visit to Guggenheim. Ahh to visit New York one day - what a dream!

I hope my recipient likes it as much as I do otherwise I just might have to get her to send it back!

Oops!

I was playing around with glass today trying to make a few fused cabs. Popped my next piece in the kiln, fired up the microwave and this was the result - after only a few minutes of fusing.

For some reason the two layers of glass didn't get like each other so the top layer did a runner and jumped off the bottom one trying to escape from the kiln!

I put the piece on my block of wood and started to get another piece ready when I could hear a popping sound and then felt a sharp feeling on the back of my arm like someone was stabbing my skin... to discover it was pieces of broken glass flying up off the block as it was cooling! Ouch!

So it's back to the drawing board on this one. Not sure why the glass reacted the way it did - I guess it is just one of those mysteries of life which will remain unsolved!

Mosaic Madness

Here are a few mosaic style glass fused cabs made by Alan... he does a marvellous job at piecing together the squares of glass to fuse into these gorgeous designs ♥

A few new cabs

Having spent around 8 weeks working on my Rockpool challenge pictured in my previous post I was spending nearly all of my spare time working with green seed beads.

So on the weekend, with not a single seed bead in sight I cranked up the microwave and made these beauties... ohhh it feels so nice to be working with glass again ♥

Glass... glass... and more glass!

I have been enjoying using my glass fusing kiln so much lately... thought I'd share a few more pieces I have made recently...

New glass fused cabochons made by moi ♥

Monet's Garden

Here are a few of my lasted glass fused beads.

Now that I have solved the problems with the kiln paper, learning a lot more about heating times and temperatures not to mention how different coloured glasses react when heated I have been having a LOT of fun making beads and am averaging a few each night...

These adorable beads are all slightly smaller than a 5c coin so they are teeny tiny beadies.



The two pink ones are made from lilac glass and a gorgeous frit I have fallen in love with called Peacock.

The blue bead in the centre was made from blue glass and a Manifesto cane.

I loved the colour blend of the two pink beads so much that I made this larger bead. I have called this one Monet's Garden as the colours reminded me of one of his paintings.

And finally this one reminds me of an old tie dyed t-shirt. I had one in purples in my late teens and have to admit I wore that t-shirt until it fell apart... and even then I had to think about throwing it out...

.... perhaps I should make a purple tie dyed bead in memory of my t-shirt!

More glass fused pieces

I am certainly on a roll now with the glass fusing... I tell you that thin fire paper certainly has made a difference... I know I said it before and I am sure I will say it again... but boy what a difference lol!!

Here are a few more pieces I made on Monday...

Ok - I am off to play with some more glass... this is fun!!

Apologies for the picture quality of these... I was so excited to take some photos of my latest pieces that I actually took these on my desk at work... not the best lighting I had to admit lol ♥

Glass cabochons? .... no problem!

I've been having a few problems with my glass fusing in the sense that no matter how long I heat the glass I just wasn't getting a nicely rounded cabochon.

I had a bit of a chat with the girls on my beading forum and they kept telling me to just keep heating it but also to keep checking the pieces every 30 seconds or so. I couldn't understand this as my pieces seemed to be taking forever to form a decent shape.

Well... when I bought the kit the supplier had run out of Thin Fire paper so said they would send me some but told me I could use the paper that came with the kiln. This paper was a fibre like paper and the supplier said the only difference with this paper was that the bottoms of my piece would not be as smooth as those heated with the thin fire paper.

Well... the paper finally arrived yesterday so I used it for the first time... OMG what a difference this paper has made. I think the fibre like paper was acting as an insulation and was blocking out a lot of the heat coming up through the base of the glass.

The pieces below are ones I made yesterday. As you can see the difference in shape of the middle bead, which was heated on thin fire paper, compared to those on either side of it is quite amazing... and I managed to get this shape within about 6 minutes as opposed to the 18-20 minutes heating time of the other pieces!

The middle bead was made from black glass and a gorgeous raku frit. Unfortunately the thin fire paper curled up over the sides and therefore left an etched like mark.

Anyhooo... I am so excited to finally be able to make perfectly shaped glass cabochons... now I will be able to bead around my own beads... how cool is that!!