Fused glass retreat - day 2
The focus of the second day of the fused glass retreat (and the final day of my four day retreat overall) was on using some of the fused glass mediums we had learned to create either an underwater or garden scene to be fused in the kiln. Many of the participants used glass from the vitrigraph we had made yesterday or pieces of freeze & fuse glass in their scenes.
I chose to do a garden scene with some abstract flowers that used various techniques and mediums. I decided to use a wave mold to create the final piece so once it is fired into a textured fuse to bring the glass together but keep some of the details, it will be slumped into a wave shape so it will stand alone and display similar to the inspiration piece I used as a template.
As we were working on our fused glass pieces, we also learned about the kiln and how to prep, program, and run kiln programs for various outcomes such as full fuse, textured fuse, slumping, and more. This was something I was really looking forward to as I recently purchased my very first kiln but haven’t had the chance to set it up and run it yet. Now I have the information and confidence I need to get it set up and do some test runs as soon as I am able to. I will share my journey as I get my kiln unpacked, set up, and begin learning to run it.
I also had the chance to see my full fused fired piece from the painted glass workshop that I attended and am donating to the benefit on Saturday for Parkinsons (see my post for day one of the retreat for details). It turned out beautifully and I have pictures below. It is now ready to be slumped into the bowl shape and should be ready to share tomorrow or the following day. I will share specific details on that piece once it is completed. I am really excited to see that final piece as well as the others I worked on during the past four days.
The focus of the glass art pieces today was on a choice of either an underwater or garden scene using various techniques such as freeze & fuse pieces, stringers & frit, cut pieces, or other fusing mediums to make a scene. Everyone had their own take on the projects and I think we all ended up with some creative and beautiful pieces!
These are the finished pieces all ready to be fired in the kiln. I can’t wait to see them once they are fired and fused.
