Variables in the Experiments

I finally had an empty kiln available to do experiments over the weekend! I wanted to control all the variables and see the effects of changing the temperature the glass melts thru the screen...

3 major things seem to effect the melts: time, temp and quantity.

So I kept the quantity of glass the same and the time it was held at the melting temp was also kept constant. What I changed was the temperature. This caused all sorts of variations: the roundness of the shape, the amount of bubbles in the melt, the patterns of color in the clear glass and the thickness of the finished piece.

The experiments continue... I just thought I'd share what came out of the kiln this weekend...

from left to right:
1700 degrees F
1600 degrees F
1500 degress F

Fusible Decal Paper on Glass

My friend Laura made these little glass pendants using images that were printed onto photo fusing paper. She pointed out that if you use French Vanilla Bullseye glass (the reactive glass 0137) instead of White (0113 or 0013) the decal looks almost black (note: its not really black, but the dark brown reaction with the vanilla looks black!)

The image above shows one decal fired on White Glass under clear (the pumpkin) and another fired on French Vanilla under clear (the witch). I'd bet the new Reactive White (0009 Reactive Cloud) would also make the decal look sorta black.

At the Aquila Glass School you can get Don to print out your images onto "Photo Fusing Paper" (he has the paper and a laser printer) and many people use this product to put images into their fused glass projects. They bring in their image saved onto a memory stick and he prints it out onto the decal paper. You wet the printed paper and slide the decal onto your glass. The results can vary, but its a simple and effective process.

The iron oxides in the laser toner make the image withstand high temperatures of firing the glass, afterwards it leaves a sepia-tone type image (sort of a burnt rusty color).

Here is a link for more information and prices for having Don print your decals:

http://www.thestoreataquila.com/photo_fusing_paper.htm

to check out Laura work:

http://appleglassoriginals.etsy.com

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Earring Experiments

What do you think?

Give-Away: FREE Glass Plate

Today I have been working and cleaning - my tools at home were in desperate need of organization and I happen to be home today... so its happened.

I like to organize things occasionally, I even own and operate a label gun :)

click here for a pictures of my tool organizing

But back to the FREE give-away fun! You can win these plates - they are glass, dishwashable, foodsafe... they were test experiments that Jan and I made earlier this year. The print on them is a hammer, its visible but a little strange... on one plate its yellow and the other plate has a blue hammer. We found this particular experiment ended up too "polka dotted" and not crisp at all... you can see the hammer print, but not as well as we wanted.

As we published in our LeJa Methods Booklet, some of our experiments were less satisfactory than others. If you are interested in our printing on glass techniques, this book is full of good information - one of the most useful parts of purchasing the little book from us is having all of our mistakes already done for you!

Experiments always lead to give-aways... so these plates need a home and I am sure someone will love them. Enter a comment here or tweet your entry - just make sure I can contact you if you win (I'll need you info so I can send them to you). Thanks a bunch for entering and be sure to pass the word along to your friends (there are two plates being given away here, so if you have a friend enter and they win, they could share the winnings with you!)

This give-away will end when I pick a random winner out of all the names submited by August 20th 2009

Printing on Glass

After much patience and hard work - our printing on glass tutorial is now for sale on Etsy!!!

click here to purchase

Here's what you get with purchase:

• step by step info (its a PDF file)
  
• pictures of process and experiments
• video
• supply lists and suppliers
• information about what pigments make what colors after firing

Its 22 pages of goodness. Really - its worth it! As Jan likes to say "$300 in 2 months" and you can now purchase all this information for only $20.

Images on Glass IV

More colors!

From left to right these little plates show a progression of our color possibilities - Jan and I have been doing a lot of experimenting. I'm loving the green on the right (the ginko leaves).

By the way - these plates are available for sale in Jan's booth at the Portland Saturday Market, and I'm setting up an Etsy shop for our collaborations as well (I'll announce that when its available). The little duck is $9 and the robot and ginko plates are $14/ea.

The small plates are perfect soy sauce size - in fact we could make you a beautiful sushi set (completely dishwasher and food safe) with ginko leaves printed in the glass. yummy.

The little long plate is the perfect functional size (if you ask my opinion) - adorn your favorite spot with a plate to put your keys, rings, change, etc... look how perfectly it holds my glasses (I have this size plate in my bathroom as well as on my bedside table)

Bullseye Reactive Glass

Bullseye Glass has a few new reactive colors, a reactive white and a reactive clear. This afternoon I was in the resource center here in Portland and I snapped this picture. They had made a really wonderful display of the "reactive" effects.
From top to bottom: (click on the picture to enlarge and see detail)

• the top pieces show copper foil under clear glass, on top of white (looks blue) vs on top of the reactive white (looks coppery)
• the middle pieces are silver foil on the reactive glass, to the left is reactive clear (isn't that effect insane!) and on the right is reactive white
• the bottom pieces of glass are reactive clear and reactive white, with turquoise and cranberry on the samples to show reaction (stringer, powder and frit)

For all of the glass fusers who may read this blog and do not live in Portland, I thought it would be fun to share this. I love the new reactive clear. Its yummy. My favorite reaction is with the turquoise frit. But thats just my opinion. :)

Copper Powder in Glass