Glass Fusing Design Techniques with Powders on Fiber Paper

By Lena Beckéus

My goal with this book is to inspire and generate enthusiasm for experimenting with powdered glass. I have an enormous passion for glass powders: their characteristics, unpredictability and endless possibilities fascinate me. The glass used is 90 COE, but you can adjust your firing schedules to suit glass that has a COE of 96 or for float glass. In this book, I describe and demonstrate techniques in over 80 pictures where I use glass powder with fiber paper in combination with stringers, scrap glass and frit, to make a wide variety of designs. Beyond basic glass fusing knowledge and a kiln, the materials and equipment used are few and simple.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Feb 4, 2015
• ISBN: 9781483550176

Book preview

SCHEDULES

INTRODUCTION

My goal is to inspire and generate enthusiasm for experimenting with powdered glass. I have an enormous passion for glass powders: their characteristics, unpredictability and endless possibilities fascinate me. The glass I use here is 90 COE but you can adjust your firing schedules to suit glass that has a COE of 96 or for float glass.

This book is suitable for both beginners and more advanced fusers. You may use my work examples as inspiration for your own designs, but note that the results will not be identical since powder is less predictable than sheet glass. Results will vary depending on thickness of powder, amount of water, specific kiln used, and so forth. Therefore, it is impossible to get identical results over and over again even if you try. You will probably learn more and be more successful if you view my work as examples of what you can achieve using these methods rather than attempting to create exact duplicates for your own glass projects.

The way fiber paper is used in these examples gives glass fusers the opportunity to create a multitude of interesting and unique patterns in glass. In this book I will describe and demonstrate techniques where I use glass powder in combination with stringers, scrap glass and frit, to make a wide variety of designs. Beyond basic glass fusing knowledge and a kiln, the materials and equipment used here are few and simple.

SAFETY

Always wear a dust mask when working with powder or fiber paper. Inhalation of particles from either can cause serious damage to your lungs. When cleaning your studio use a mop or wet cloth instead of a vacuum cleaner.

COLORS AND DEPTH

It’s a good idea to keep the color wheel in mind as a tool to help choose colors for your work.

If you are aiming for vivid, dramatic contrasts in your design, you should choose colors that are opposite, or nearly opposite each other in the color wheel, red and blue for example. If, on the other hand, you want a calmer look, choose neighboring colors for example, purple and pink. I like to mix pastels, from the inner circles of the color wheel, with stronger colors from outer circles too. For example, Mint Green with strong Fuchsia. Note that when combining different colors of glass, no matter what form it takes (sheet, frit, stringer, etc.) you should check that there is no potential for chemical reactions between your chosen colors that might cause them to change. For