Glass Fusion Coaster

Back on 13 June, I posted about  a Glass Fusing Workshop I attended with my daughter.   We have now received the finished coasters, which have been fused in the tutor's kiln.   I have taken a couple of photos one with flash and one without.

without flash

As it might not be obvious as to what I was trying to achieve, I will explain.   It is basically a landscape with a river and rocks at the bottom, then fields and trees and some flowers with a sunset (which was a bit more red than the orange I had hoped for), and then sky and clouds and the sun!

with flash

Glass Fusing Workshop

Coastrr layout ready to go in the Kiln

I had a trip out on Sunday to The Garden Show at Stansted Park nr Rowlands Castle with my daughter.  She had managed to book us on to a Glass Fusing Course.   It was a lovely day out.   We didn't know what to expect, as we knew nothing about the venue.  Wow it was a lovely setting, and we could have spent a fortune.  Loads of plants for sale, garden items, bit and small, items for upcycling, Arts and Crafts tents, a little forge, a jazz band, falconry displays, Food stalls.  You could also pay to go in the house, or venture to the little chapel to see the floral displays, or visit the miniature railway, the maze, the timber mill or the nursery.   Needless to say we didn't get to see everything.

The image above shows my final design, which will be taken to the kiln and fused, so I will show the end result in a couple of weeks when I get it back.  It is supposed to depict a landscape with water, rocks, fields with poppies, trees, mountains and a sunset sort or sky with clouds.   Can;t wait to see the finished result..

Me with Work in Progress (I changed the final design from this)

My daughter's creation based on Van Gogh's "Starry Night"

Glass Fusing

First attempt on right, second on left

It is half term this week so my daughter who is a teach was able to have some "me time" doing some crafting with me.

We had both love doing glass work, and fell in love with some sample work of glass fusing at a recent Craft Exhibition.    Well lo and behold, there was a microwave kiln kit for sale on one of the craft channels ... yes you guessed it ....... we bought one.

When it arrived we discovered that you really shouldn't use it in the same microwave oven as the one you cook food in, so a quick click on the great shop in the sky and a new cheap microwave arrived at her house over the weekend!

Our first attempt was the piece on the right, and the second the piece on the left, which started out looking like the picture below.  It's amazing that you start with a square flat piece and it ends up rounded!

Also in the kit was some jewellery findings, so using my jewellery glue we attached the bails.

We had time to try one more piece, which didn't quite turn out as we had expected.  It was made from three millefiori  pieces which we arranged to hopefully create a heart shape.   We made sure the pieces were touching, but in hindsight possibly we should allowed a small gap for the glass to flow into each other.  Still you learn, and it was only our first session.

Our third piece with millefiori -comparing the size!

It does take patience - but only waiting for the glass to cool down.   It takes about 6 mins for it to melt and 30 mins to cool down before you can touch it!   However, it was great fun.  (We are hoping to go on a course later in the year).