RECENT PROJECTS

I've had a dragonfly mold from Colour de Verre for years, but it has never been used ... until a couple days ago. There's a lot of wait time when you are fusing glass, and the garage is toasty warm. Yes, we have cooler days in Southern California, too. So you take advantage of this with embossing, using the hydraulic press, or cutting glass for future fusing projects.

I saw a wonderful video at Creative Paradise for using their dragonfly mold, so had to try one. You can find the videos at their web site under Glass, then Tutorials/Videos. I didn't have the exact colors Stephanie used, but I think my first try came out well! For their coarse dichroic frit, I smashed a small piece of dichroic glass to use in the wings. A 4" piece of 16 gauge copper wire is inserted into the frit before firing, and it can be attached to a stake later. Wouldn't these dragonflies make wonderful additions to potted plants or your flower garden! Next time I make one (maybe today!), I'll be more careful to brush away the glass between the wings. See the extra glass in the photograph.

I've been doing more fused glass projects using the powder on fiber method. The first photo shows my two pieces with powders before the first firing. This was on Mother's Day, and I told my friend I was doing a "wild and crazy" piece in honor of this day! I'm sure you can tell which one that was....

Here are closeups of these two pieces showing the "puddles" formed after the first firing. My daughter looked in the kiln and just shook her head ... (no appreciation of Mom's art work, I guess). Ha. I have added a clear piece of glass on top and will fire a second time.

See the difference with the clear glass on top? They are looking better!

I added a piece of black glass to the bottom of the pieces and ... WOW, the colors have popped and they really look good!

I slumped "Wild and Crazy" into my new mold yesterday. This mold has sharp points on each end, so cutting the glass to fit the shape was not easy. I ended up rounding the ends and balancing the glass in the mold. In my first attempt, something made me look into the kiln at 400 degrees. The glass had slipped down one end, the other end was sticking up!! The Kiln God was definitely looking over that piece. I waited for the kiln to cool, reset the piece on the mold and never left its side until the glass started to sag into the mold. I am slumping the other piece now, and at 560 degrees it is still sitting pretty on the mold.