Poppy Patchwork


My little bit of this big World

Wednesday 9 October 2019

Smashing

I used the precut circles, with thin and tiny bits of coloured glass sandwiched in the middle.
 I fired the glass, whilst it is not the finished look I was wanting, the glass inside does look just as I wanted it. I wanted a summer days sky, with a field of poppies below.
This piece went into the kiln in my microwave twice, after the 1st go, the glass was fused, but the coloured glass had not melted, I checked the piece after it had started to cool down, so I left the glass and kiln to go completely cold, and then repeated the firing.
My Christmas tree, I did on one long setting, 10 minutes, I read else where to set it on 2 minute burst, which I tried on this piece, but the kiln was not heating up, so I did 6 minutes, which was not enough time to fuse the work. The 2nd time I did 6 minutes again, which was not enough, so I did another 4 minutes, which was too much.
There are not many places I can find for instructions for a microwave kiln, most says to adjust timings to your microwave, I have a powerful microwave, so I know that is not the problem. I just have to play around until I find the correct times.

 I had another try, just a simple design, I fired it for 10 minutes, checked and fired for extra 2 minutes, 3 levels, white on bottom, mixed frit with yellow bars, clear glass on top, I can see one small air bubble, but for me it's perfect, I'm just so pleased.
I'm on a roll so I thought I would try another one, this was designed simply, the pink glass already had the design in, I added the pearl and the purple, which is more see through, I cut each piece to fit into the square, which I also cut. I wanted to break up the solid colour so I added the yellow chips, they left gaps, so I added the finner navy blue.  
 In each case the glass cuts run to the edge of the design, this allows air to flow out of the fired item and have less or no air bubbles, this piece has no air bubbles. There was clear glass top and bottom, to seal this piece. It was fired for 12 minutes. 
The firing process worked well, so hopefully I have now got a better idea of the timings. I will try another design, keeping things simple, so once finished they look good. None of the failed ones are wasted, I can break the glass and reuse it, there is never any waste. But I will purchase some more clear round glass, I find these useful. 




5 comments:

  1. You are one clever lady.

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  2. I'm sure you'll find out what works and what doesn't, the playing around and experimenting is the fun bit.

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  3. These are really pretty. It is so interesting to see how you make them. xx

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  4. It is the kind of craft that looks good even with imperfections in fact sometimes they can look quite striking because of them. I love what you have done so far. I have one or two of my daughter's pieces that she did at art school and everyone remarks on them.

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