Glass Fusion III: Firing

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Work Room chat:
Here's an interesting video I found on eHow by Cheryl Syminink of C-Glass Studio on the entire process of making a fused dichroic glass pendant. The video comes in 17 parts and yes, it is the WHOLE process, right from cutting the glass to fusing and finally turning it into a pendant. Go check it out!
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You should realize by now that you do not necessarily need a proper kiln to fuse glass because you have the microwave kiln. Even so, it nevertheless made me curious about the choice of one over the other which I then posed Uncle Ghee with this question.

Well, to him, the reason why he would choose a proper kiln over the microwave one is due to thw timing issue. Everything is programmed with a proper kiln so that you just throw evverything in, set the time and temperature and you can go and work on other stuffs. When you come back to it, everything's done just nice.

Unlike the microwave one where he is never too sure about the time and actually need to check on it all the time and even risk over firing it. What happens when you over fire the glass? Well, the glass won't get burnt. LOL.... :P

But.....this is what can happen.




What is amiss here? Why, the shape of course!

You'll notice here that the glas piece is groundnut shaped rather than squarish or rectangularish as it was initially intended to be.

But even then, it still looked fine to me. If I hadn't been told that it was actually over fired, I would have thought that it was the intended design. Like Uncle Ghee said, it still looks nice.

So, if you think about it, the red piece of glass that I did earlier on was actually kinda over fired too?


Isn't it? o_O


Anyway, that aside, there is actually a difference firing between the two. Well, not a very significant difference anyway but this was what pointed out by Uncle Ghee.

Now, take a look at these two.






One was fired using the proper kiln and another using the microwave kiln. Can you tell which is which? The answer should be pretty obvious.

The one on the left is fired using a kiln and the one on the right, the microwave one.

So, you see, the one on the left has a more.... erm, how should I say it, straight edges? Whereas the one on the right has a more rounded edge.

I'm not sure if the shape and size will also affect the outcome since if you observed the two pieces above, you might come the realize that the one on the left is more rectangular in shape whereas the one on the right more squarish?

Anyway, that's just what I've been told la.

Ouh, and do you see that small piece of shiny blue foil like paper in the piece on the left?








Well, that piece was a dichroic glass piece. I've mentioned before what dichroic glass is and as compared to the ordinary glass, there is no doubt that dichroic glass is prettier but then, it also comes at a higher cost. I was told that it costs up to 5 times the price of normal glass! @_@

And now, a side view of that piece of fused glass.







This piece is actually made up of three pieces of glass, with the dichroic piece being at the top, followed by a transluscent blue and opaque blue as its base. A closer inspection will also shows that despite the three layers of glass, the final fuse works out to be only about the thickness of 2 layers of glass or approximately 6mm!

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Remember this?

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Work Room chat:
I'm thinking of getting some dichroic glass to try out actually because Uncle Ghee's available pool of fusing glass is boring me already. Ahaks! :P But then and again.... there's the cost issue to consider. Bummer! :/
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The unfired piece of glass during my second attempt at glass fusion?

Well, as I have thought it, Uncle Ghee fired it during the weekday. So when I was over at the studio last Sunday, I picked up the fired piece.


Tadah!

Also, because I wasn't too careful about the gap, there's these visible lines you see at the edges. Hhhhmmmmppphhhh.......


See the two layers of glass fused together?



Well, it didn't quite turn out very rectangularish since the edges all are kinda rounded in some ways but I think it still turn out alright. Much better than the red one! Hahah! XD

The colour also turn out a bit dark, doesn't it? Oh, well.... but at least I think I'm getting a hang of it already although there's still some tricks around it that I would need to learn. Hopefully a bit better next time, ya! ;)

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Glass Fusion II: First trial

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Work Room chat:
I saw a video on YouTube about this type of microwave kiln. It's a bit different from the one that I used here but it's an interesting watch nevertheless.
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Okay, and so I was left to myself to figure it out while Uncle Ghee was busy surfing on the internet checking out the showing time for Wolverine and Hanah Montana. -__-

Honestly, I was just dim wit clueless. Probably it sounds so straightforward easy that it seems almost unbelievably child's play like that it left me not knowing exactly what to do. o_O

And then I realize, there was no specific project for me to work on, which is why I'm a bit lost here. Should I blame Uncle Ghee for not being a dedicated teacher or myself for not researching beforehand? :P Hhhhhmmm.....

Well, anyway, I know I couldn't possibly come up with anything decent, I might as well come up with 'something' just so I could get over it and put 'something' into the kiln for firing and see for myself what the whole glass fusion thingy is about.

To be honest...... I don't even fancy the colours of the glasses available but thou shall not complain when it is done as a favour. :P

So, alright.... I did what I would normally do, choose my colour palette. It was kinda difficult actually given that the colours that I do like do not have pieces big enough as the base and colours which have pieces big enough to form the base are not exactly colours that I fancy. -____-

But die die also must choose and come up with something, right? And so, these are the colours I come up with.





To be honest, I don't even know how the colours are going to work together but I have to come up with 'something'.....somehow....

The smaller pieces on the right are actually all the transluscent types whereas the bigger red piece on the left is the opaque type which I'll be using it as the base.

There's a small risk I'm taking here.

This.



As you can see, both are red. So, basically I'm using red on red but the difference is that the transluscent piece is on the opaque one. As a matter of fact, all the smaller pieces that I'm planning to use on top of the opaque red are transluscent. Logic will dictate that they will probably not show but then, I'm curious to see how this match is going to turn out.

And so, the cutting begins......





The final 'design' I came up with was this.


Alright, so maybe it can't even qualify as a design. It looks like those jigsaw puzzles for toddlers you would most probably find in nursery schoold. -__-


Alright, not to forget that I'll need to glue them to secure the placement of the smaller pieces.





But then hor......





Even with the glue, the placement of the glass bits has totally changed! LOL.... Oh, well..... I was a bit restless already just so I could put something into the kiln was just being random. :P

So, the next step is firing. Into the kiln it goes.


This is the kiln that I mentioned before and have been wanting to show you guys. A real kiln, yo! LOL....so jakun, never see a kiln before. :P This is the smaller one by the way. There's still another bigger one at the opposite corner but Uncle Ghee was using it at that time, firing some pottery. This one is about knee length height, maybe? Don't know.....but it sure is quite big.



But, wait a minute. The kiln is so big but I only wanted to fire this small piece of glass. This is not going to be ermm.... kiln effective? Oh, shucks! Should have taken a picture of the inside of the kiln. Well, maybe in my next trip to the studio....

So, Uncle Ghee took this out instead.


What's this?






The first impression I got when I first saw this was how it reminds me of the cooler container that they normally use to store ice-cream cake. It sure looks like it, doesn't, it?

But no, that's not that la. It's a microwave kiln! :D Heh!

Yes, it's a kiln that you are going to use in the microwave. You are going to do the firing in this kiln in the microwave. Cool or what?

Well, apart from being kiln effective (if you ever have such a term!), it is also more cost effective, especially for home artists. I was told that this microwave kiln cost some £400 whereas the proper kiln earlier on some whopping £2000! But I did some search on the internet and found that some sellers in the US is selling them for less than $200 I think. Don't the difference in manufacturers made the difference though..... *shrugs*

So, the earlier glass piece will be placed inside and fired in the microwave.

Another important thing is this.





This is the ceramic fibre paper where the glass piece will be placed on inside the kiln so that when the glass melt, it won't stick to the kiln.

So, into the kiln the glass piece goes.






And then, into the microwave the kiln goes.


Okay, a little trivia here. I was told that this kiln was actually invented by the Japanese for some other purpose but somehow didn't work out in the way they wanted and so, the Americans bought over the patent and sold in a year, what the Japanese sold in five. Also, at present, this seems like the biggest size available. They do have a bigger one but the problem is in finding a microwave big enough to fit it in.



And then, we set the time.





We set it at 6 minutes but the truth is, either of us were not very sure how long it is actually needed for the kiln to heat up enough to begin firind the glass. What I was told was it is done when I see the top centre hole of the kiln turn orange.

Well, after 6 minutes, it still did not turn orange and Uncle Ghee further added the time. I'm not sure exactly how long it took because I wasn't inside the kiln room all the while.

Thing is, neither Uncle Ghee is sure with the exact time himself since he uses the proper kiln with timing and heat programmed. To be honest, he has not much use for this microwave kiln, really, since he does the firing in bulk and using the bigger kiln would be much more appropriate. The bigger kiln is also much more convenient too since everything is pre-programmed.

I think he got this microwave kiln out of curiosity. LOL.......

So, the firing time at present is only a guesstimate while keeping an eye on the microwave all the time. I somehow feel that there must be a more efficient timing for this. I just gotta find out how....

Just then.....




It turn orange already! Yay!

So it's almost enough already and out from the microwave it comes.





Uncle Ghee opened it for a while and it was still orange hot inside. Unfortunately, I did not manage to capture a picture of it before Uncle Ghee closed it again and told me to wait for a bit. I saw it was still burning hot inside, you know like how those boiling lava looks like inside volcano? Just imagine how hot it must have been inside.





Anyway, when the kiln cool down a little. We opened it up to check on the piece of glass.











I didn't know what to expect but I sure wasn't expecting to see this!
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What the...... o_O


How did it end up looking so dark and "plum"?!

And then Uncle Ghee told me not to worry as that is how red looks like when it's hot. The colour will return as it cools down.

So we left it there for a bit. But either way, I still do not have a good feeling about it.

After some time, Uncle Ghee came out from the kiln room telling me that the contrast in my piece wasn't enough. So, I went into the kiln room and found my piece looking like.....
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This!








Okay, that's just plain ugly...... -____-

Sa Kor didn't think it was ugly though when I showed it to her but I think she's just being forgiving because I hated it.

Forgive me please given it was a clueless first piece. But at least I kind of have a picture of what it's all about already.

I was just hanging around in the studio after that and Uncle Ghee asked me, "Aren't you going to play some more?"

Well,... I was a bit reluctant because I felt like I needed some research before I can actually come up with a decent piece but nevertheless went ahead anyway.

I asked a few questions which Uncle Ghee replied with a, "You can try."

So, try I did.

And again..... I chose my colour palette and this time with less ambitious use of colour.


A more complimenting pallette of colours, perhaps?

Roughly..... came up with this.






I was wondering if I could create a rectangular frame pendant.

But.......

Before I could actually fire it in the kiln to see how it would turn out, Uncle Ghee told me to pack up already because we've got a movie to catch. What the........ -__-

So, sorry peeps, can't show you the finished piece because I had to left it there and I think if Uncle Ghee is free during the weekdays, he might fire it for me which I will also only find out when I go into the studio again in the weekends. Will show you guys the finished piece then.

Meanwhile, I'll just go back and do more research.

The day ended with me watching Hanah Montana with my little cousin sis (I had to watch it because I need to take Shaunee to watch it while Uncle Ghee and his wife went to watch Wolverine because Shaunee wasn't old enough for Wolverine! But then... Hanah Montana turns out to be not such a bad watch after all.... light entertainment peeps, light entertainment.... :P) and finally, Mexican dinner at Chiquito. :D

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Glass Fusion I: Introduction

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Work Room chat:
You may want to visit here to get a rough idea how the entire layering/stacking of glass pieces process is like.
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" Referred to as "warm glass," glass fusion is one of the oldest forms of glass making.

Instead of blowing the glass, torches and kilns are used to make the glass molten. Each piece begins with hand cut, broken, pulled, and ground pieces of glass and other objects.

These pieces of glass and objects are then designed in a layered manner on the kiln shelf. Through a series of firings (at temperatures ranging from 1,200-1,500 degrees) a new piece of glass is formed and finally coaxed into its ultimate shape. "
Source: Maxfield Glass

Yes! I finally got the opportunity to try my hands on glass fusing in Funky Pots studio (the old one at the City, not West Bridgford). :D




Alright, I didn't make those. It was samples made by Uncle Ghee and his wife.


I went into the studio last Sunday, completely clueless as to what glass fusing is all about other Sa Kor (she actually attended a workshop on it) and Uncle Ghee telling me that it's very easy only. Easy or not, but I think that when you are completely clueless about something you don't exactly have a conviction about it.

Anyway, I was there around noon already but Uncle Ghee still has some work to finish up first. So, I waited around for a while before he finally bring out a box.....





And inside the box was loads of goodies.... :D

Glass noodles
See how they look like noodle strand? Erm, like fettucini perhaps? :P


Glass noodles anyone? Pun intended. Heheh... :P


Glass rods
I wonder if these are the ones that lampwork artists use as well?


Glass pieces



Glass frit




Glass bits



The glass available for use that day were only those ordinary types. Some of you might have heard about dichroic glass. Dichroic glass is glass containing multiple micro-layers of metal oxides which give the glass dichroic optical properties. Dichroic glass was originally developed by NASA and its contractors for use in satellite optics and spacesuit visors.





A pendant made from dichroic glass.
Source: Wikipedia





The very first thing I was taught about glass fusion was about the COE.





Simply put, COE stands for Coefficient of Expansion; which refers to the rate that glass expand and contract. The rule is that only glass of the same COE can be fused together. Otherwise, the fusion will crack. Even if it doesn't crack immediately, it is bound to crack over time.

The fused glass will always assume a thickness of ¼ inch or approximately 6mm. Despite the varying layers of glass being fused together, it will eventuslly assume a 6mm thick glass piece. If you are trying to heat just one layer of glass, it has a tendency to pull in to obtain this ¼ inch thickness. Two or more layers will flow out and assume the ¼ inch thickness, which is about the size of two layers of glass.

There are different techniques when it comes to fusing glass. Just to name a few....

Firing in the lower range is what is called 'slumping'; a technique commonly used to create bowls and such.


I guess it's like how you slump the glass to create a hollow? *shrugs*


Firing the glass at a higher range creates a 'full fuse' whereas firing in the middle range is considered 'tack fusing'. The difference between the two form of fusing is this.





Alright, the orange piece at the front is tack fusing whereas the black piece at the back is full fuse. Tack fusing is is when two or more pieces of glass are heated until the pieces start to melt together. Each piece will maintain its original shape and texture. So, as you can see from the picture, they almost appear to be just glued together.

A full fuse on the other hand, is when two or more pieces of glass are heated until the pieces melt together to form one solid piece of glass, like the one in black.

One thing that you would want to take note is that each piece of glass is reusable. So, basically, there's no wastage when it comes to glass fusing.


No wonder Uncle Ghee still kept these bits and pieces of glasses....




And that was all the briefing I got. The next thing Uncle Ghee told me was "Ok la, now go do whatever you want."

I was ???!!!

What do you mean go do whatever I want? o_O

"Well.....", he says. "Go and cut pieces of glass and stack and layer them in the design that you want."

I was like -_____- .

I was seriously still clueless........

"Ouh...." and then he says, "I'll show you how to cut glass"

He then took out a glass cutter.


This glass cutter cost some £20 by the way. @_@! I was told there are cheaper ones too but they are not that effective. Erm, something like how one might prefer stainless steel pliers over the economy ones I think.....


And also, handed me a safety goggles.


You wouldn't want to get splinter of glass into your eyes, now would you?


The glass cutting part is easy. Basically, what you do is to make a line on the glass with the glass cutter.






Then, grip the glass piece with a plier.....






And press the pliers gently.




There......



One tip as you are working on the design. You might want to use glue to secure your designs to avoid them moving. They do have special glass glue but it's not really necessary. Ordinary PVA glue would also do just fine. The glue will eventually be burnt off during the firing process and would not affect the glass composition or content.




"Okay", says Uncle Ghee. "You may begin."

Huuuuuhhh???

How?

"Just layer the glasses in whatever design you want."

Errr...... wokay.

I was seriously just clueless.

But since I was told to play around in his studio. I think I'll just do that. :P



I'm really lousy at taking self portraits. I think I need more practice. Either that or get someone to take the picture for me. LOL.... XD



I'll post what I actually came up with that day in the next entry. I'm kinda tired to continue already. Heheh.....

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