Curling Tile Jewelry box project - Finished

 Well here you have it!The finished curling jewelery box. I'm extremely happy with the way this turned out, so much so that I am going to make another tile to use in something for myself. The tack fuse came off just fine.

Happy Day!

Curling Tile Jewelry box project

So for my next project I am making a jewelry box for either a Chinese auction or some such give away at the Pittsburgh Curling Club's Tropicurl event. Essentially, I'm making a tile to place in an inset of a 6" x 6" oak jewelry box.

My first step has been to do a full fuse of the "ice". This time around I am using all Uroboros glass that has a COE of 90. The bottom layer was of a straight blue and whites glasses that I cut arcs in to simulate the house (read, target). I then place a whispy  clear and white mixture glass on top. I think this does an excellent job at mimicking how this actually looks. In reality the pattern is painted first then water placed on top and frozen, so you get this kind of muted color with frosty bits on top.I did this with my regular full fuse schedule.

Next I am tacking on a curling stone piece that I had fused a while back when I did a mosaic piece that was part fused glass. I made a bunch of them when I did that project.

Once the tack is done, I will insert it in the box, and of course provide pictures :-).

Tack fuse schedule:

Segment	Ramp	Temp	Hold
1	300°	1150°	30
2	400°	1370°	0
3	AFAP	950°	60
4	150°	800°	10

Bamboo project part 3

My mantra has been that is it all "an experiment". Well, some experiments go well, others not so much. So far, I would rate this a 6 out of 10. My contour fuse was too hot for too long and ended up being more of a full fuse and less of a contour. This being my first time ever doing a contour fuse, I can't be too upset with it.

I can however pick on my color choices a bit. I would have liked the leaves to be more opaque. I also would like the bamboo to have a bit more color texture to them. I can partly explain all of this by saying, that is what the glass store had available when I was there. I did not want to go through the bother of ordering glass to get exactly what I wanted. With those things in consideration, it was well worth the time and expense to get the experience.

My next step will be etching the back of the glass. I think I may have settled in on etching the whole back with the exception of the bamboo relief. I will post the finished piece after that.

Bamboo project part 2, contour fuse

With the relief image of the bamboo done, I've now laid out colored pieces for bamboo on top. The idea is that I will contour fuse the top pieces into the bottom piece. A contour fuse is mid way between a tack fuse (where the top piece doesn't really sink into the bottom piece but will have softer edges) and a full fuse (where the top piece sinks all the way into the bottom piece).

I left the fiber paper attached to the bottom for the moment, I did not want to possibly lose the relief image during the contour fuse cycle. I also cut the glass "freestyle" with no pattern. I am hoping this will give it a more organic feel in the end.

I am very excited for this to work out and very nervous that the contour fuse will be too much or too little. This is my first contour fuse and therefore officially a test of the proper schedule. Here's to crossing my fingers and toes. I can't wait until tonight to see if this worked out!

I'm using the Spectrum glass contour fuse schedule, because I'm using their glass.

• SP 744 Easter Opal
• SF 798 Khaki
• SF Light Green

Segment	Ramp	Temp	Hold
1	300°	1150°	30
2	400°	1440°	10
3	AFAP	950°	60
4	150°	800°	10

Tear drop pendant project Part 2, fusing complete.

 The pendants are all now fused. You can see, in the first picture, that all of that frit reduced down to about half. They have some great coloring to them. The next steps for them will be sanding them down a bit with a diamond pad and then fire polishing them. Add a bail and necklace and we will be good to go.The fire polishing schedule is below.

Fire Polishing Schedule

Segment	Ramp	Temp	Hold
1	400°	1350°	10
2	AFAP	960°	60
3	150°	700°

Tear drop pendant project start

My wife has started her first fused project in the new kiln. She is working on a set of teardrop pendants in a cast mold, something I will be doing later myself. She is using a mix of different frit colors and sizes.

• 136-96 Dark Blue medium frit
• Clear medium and fine frits.
• Clear iridized medium frit.
• 5333-96 Deep Aqua fine frit.
• 138-96 Adventurine Blue coarse frit

These are layered in different configurations. and are now being fired with the schedule below. Time for us to watch and wait. Here's hoping for a great experiment!

Segment	Ramp	Temp	Hold
1	600°	1475°	30
2	AFAP	960°	90
3	100°	700°

Bamboo project part 1

My wife and I have a number of of projects we are itching to start. First up is a bamboo panel, hopefully for my office. I got this idea from an article I read online about using float glass (glass that doesn't have a tested COE). I however am not that brave and I am using all Spectrum 96 glass in this project.

The idea will be to have a relief bamboo picture in the back and a tack or contour fuse of some colored bamboo on the top. I am also considering using some Armour Etch on the back to either frost sections of the back, or the whole back, but this all depends on how everything turns out. Remember, It's all an experiment after all.

So to start out this project, I've taken 1/8" fiber paper and cut some bamboo stem sections, leaves and shoots. I've arranged them on some thin fire paper on the kiln shelf. I've taken 2 layers of clear spectrum glass and placed them on top. 7" by 9" if your curious. I am performing a full fuse to make the impression on the back of the panel and to make sure that the 2 layers of glass combine. I am using the Spectrum recommended schedule for a full fuse, as I did for my first full fuse test.

Segment	Ramp	Temp	Hold
1	300°	1150°	30
2	400°	1475°	10
3	AFAP	950°	60
4	150°	800°	10

Other project in the queue: Teardrop necklace cast, Hexagon bowl, and a beach scene panel.