Glass Fusing

Some students feel the urge to move on once they’ve made up a few stained glass or foiled panels and to this end usually opt to try out glass fusing or kiln fired glass as it is sometimes called.

Glass fusing can be done by even the most non-artistic person and can be started at any age. In our studios we hold a Saturday morning class for children aged between 5 and 9 who turn out the most incredible work. We also hold fusing parties for young children - indeed we had a party of 8 eight year olds who in one hour, each made a picture panel together with a glass jewellery pendant. Obviously, these things couldn’t be taken home with them on the day but they all trooped back a few days later and were thrilled with the pieces they’d made.

Fusing glass together is a double procedure. 1) Cut and shape 2) fuse. But what do we mean by fusing? Put simply - fusing is putting 2 pieces of glass together which in turn are put into a kiln (oven) until the glass has literally fused together!

Generally speaking, glass doesn’t need to have the cutting accuracy of stained glass or copper foiling work. A glass fuser can work with odd bits of broken glass, strips or even found pieces as long as the co-efficiency of the glass is the same. This last is probably the most important skill to learn. In reality all glass should fuse with itself. But mix the glasses, for instance, use a piece of say Spectrum glass and put it on top of for instance an Artista glass and disaster beckons! At Baroque Glass we encourage students to use Bullseye and Artista glasses which are both compatible or Spectrum 96 and Uroborus which are also compatible.

Kilns are the next thing that the glass fuser needs to learn about, but generally speaking unless you have bought your own, most studios will actually put the glass work into the kiln for you and ensure that it is on the right fusing cycle.

A great deal of fun can be had with fused glass if the student remembers that glass fusing is really an experiment! Even the most advanced fused glass artist will have the odd accident with pieces cracking in the kiln or even devitrifying. So don’t be too hard on yourself if a bubble appears, or the glass has cracked, these things happen for a reason and it is easily rectified next time round!