Clever glass fusers know that using strong line quality and bold color saturation in combination is an effective way to create stand-out works of art.
Now take such trustworthy techniques and sprinkle in gradient blends and subtle shading achieved using frit. You’ll be amazed just how quickly your artwork advances to a new, exciting level of sophistication.
In this comprehensive webinar, I’ll show you how to apply several methods I employ to add the striking, painterly-quality I have developed to improve the impact of your glass fusing projects.
I demonstrate how to make SEVEN projects in this Webinar including a sea turtle, flowering tree, to beach scene and more!
You’ll learn: how to evaluate a design to maximize the imagery, steps for successful fabrication and practical tips for building professional quality, finished pieces.
Along with my step-by-step instruction, you’ll also receive complete material lists and project-specific firing guides.
I hope to see YOU Tuesday!
Happy fusing! Lisa
Get FREE advanced glass fusing tips and trick in your inbox. Follow my blog for weekly inspiration.
Being artsy and creating original art is exciting. It feeds the mind, body and soul with inner joy and peace.
Glass fusing has broad appeal due to the ease at which plain sheet glass can be transformed into flashy pieces of art. It’s this facet that makes this medium attractive to artists and crafters who love hands-on immersion.
But glass fusing is different from other mediums. Kiln operation and following firing guidelines make glass fusing a science as much as art. Of course, you can ignore that reality. Stay in the safe zone, using pre-programmed kilns and adhering to standard firing schedules. Copy and make the same reliable projects that everyone else is sharing. But the real exciting creations are inspired by stepping outside the box. To stretch your imagination and take your art to an all new level of amazing, you must take your work more seriously.
Approach your hobby like a pro.
Get organized. The best way to master the technical aspects of science, and benefit from your process is to take notes of your work in progress. Once the technical aspects are under control, the artist is free to focus on the creative development of the art.
You argue, why stop the creative flow to take boring notes?
Here’s why the pros take notes.
1 Creative inspiration.
We’re human. We forget intricate details. Remembering the big, broad strokes is easy. It’s the tiny nuances that drift away like fluffy dandelion seeds on the wind. These seemingly insignificant concepts are what make your art your own, unique creations.
Pros take notes even when making routine pieces. They know that new design ideas come from recycling and reorganizing old tried and trusted design ideas. Often, my groundbreaking innovations are the product of combining an unlikely variety of tiny concepts. I pull minor techniques from previously made art and merge them to develop a single new creation.
Plus, if you’re consistent and establish good note talking habits, you’ll free up mind space previously dedicated to remembering your methods. This open-air gives new ideas room to live and grow.
2 Find encouragement.
A notebook is black and white proof you’re making progress. No matter how small, every entry is positive reinforcement that you’re learning new things, trying new techniques and growing your creative style. It’s a tribute to hard work and an ego boost whenever you need encouragement to forge ahead.
Success is a terrific confidence builder. When you have a notebook full of great success stories it promotes cheerful production. At any time, you can flip through those messy pages and marvel over all the beautiful pieces you’ve made.
It’s a thrill to revisit simple projects you thought you’d outgrown. You remember how much fun it was to lose yourself in the creative zone and consider remaking old favorites for the joy of it. That’s priceless.
3 Build self-confidence.
By taking detailed notes of a project’s progress as its made, it’s easy to repeat successful projects with confidence. I consult my notes when I want to quickly and easily repeat projects with accuracy.
Notes are also a great reference for new project development. With them I can plan new design directions knowing what outcome to expect from certain advanced techniques. This knowledge frees me to focus my full attention on creating a revolutionary new design.
4 Learn from your mistakes.
Another, huge benefit to cataloging your methods is you can retrace your steps backwards when disaster strikes to pin point where it went wrong. It’s a valuable teaching tool you can use to learn from your mistakes. With notes you can efficiently repeat your successes and avoid failures in the future.
In my experience, taking notes drastically improves the overall quality and success of my projects. Documenting assembly and firing methods minimizes problems and gives me the self-confidence to experiment.
5 Trail blaze new ideas.
Pioneering new design concepts is exciting and scary. When I’m commissioned to design original art, I consult my fusing notebook for guidance. I look up projects that are similar in size and thickness to the new job. I study projects that are larger and projects that are smaller. With that information, I develop a custom firing schedule for the new job. I write a program that’s conservative, to avoid breakage, and yet gives me the desired results I promised the client.
Like you, I don’t want to waste time, money or material on failures. We all want to start a project knowing that the finished artwork will bring our beautifully imagined vision to life. If it doesn’t, the failure is devastating. By taking notes, you can approach new design ideas with greater confidence. By knowing the parameters that have worked successfully in the past, you can take on more challenging projects and enjoy success in the future.
Pros make it a habit.
Taking notes is the best thing you can do to improve the quality and increase the complexity of your art. Good habits are as hard to break as bad habits.
Be a pro.
Happy fusing! Lisa
Get FREE advanced glass fusing tips and trick in your inbox. Follow my blog for weekly inspiration.
Clever glass fusers know that using strong line quality and bold color saturation in combination is an effective way to create stand-out works of art.
Now take such trustworthy techniques and sprinkle in gradient blends and subtle shading achieved using frit. You’ll be amazed just how quickly your artwork advances to a new, exciting level of sophistication.
In this comprehensive webinar, I’ll show you how to apply several methods I employ to add the striking, painterly-quality I have developed to improve the impact of your glass fusing projects.
I demonstrate how to make SEVEN projects in this Webinar including a sea turtle, flowering tree, to beach scene and more!
You’ll learn: how to evaluate a design to maximize the imagery, steps for successful fabrication and practical tips for building professional quality, finished pieces.
Along with my step-by-step instruction, you’ll also receive complete material lists and project-specific firing guides.
Fall is a wonderful time to enjoy outdoor activities and breathe in the beauty of nature. It’s refreshing to be away from my glass studio in environments rich with color, pattern and new scenes. I cherish time cooling off on the water and the exhilaration of hiking in the woods. The outings clear my mind of old design themes, they rejuvenate my spirit and inspire new design ideas.
I may be off work, but my creative subconscious is on duty collecting tidbits that’ll later be integral parts of my new art. I seek exciting new compositions by studying tiny details like the delicate curled shoots of ferns. I imagine the extreme color combinations studying the broad strokes of a spectacular, cotton candy pink sunset. Even familiar settings, seen with renewed artistic curiosity, offer new appeal.
Fairy Tale Forest by Lisa Vogt
Fairy Tale Forest was inspired by a path I frequently walk in the woods. It’s an enchanted place with specked shade, inviting curves that promise adventure and the musical sounds of nature alive in the brush. Tall pines and century old oaks form a canopy overhead. The cathedral-like tunnel makes me feel small, at ease and safe. It’s as if the trees are guarding me with the wisdom of their age. It’s such a magical place, I half expect to see a white unicorn trotting around the palmetto bushes.
The truth is the path doesn’t really look like my design. I exercised my artistic license. I designed the art to convey the way I feel, the comfort and joy I have when I’m strolling down the leaf blanketed trail.
I never would have stretched my artistic vision to that extent without the actual experience of walking down that path.
Paradise Bay by Lisa Vogt
Paradise Bay was inspired by a favorite lagoon on a lake. Again, the artwork loosely represents the landscape. It’s really a representation of good times and fond memories of time spent with my family.
River Bottom by Lisa Vogt
River Bottom was inspired by the ditch that lines my street. Really. I was walking one morning and noticed the sunlight shining on the water in the retention ditch on my road. The sun pierced through the clear water down to the bottom where it lit up the tiny green leaves of mossy plants. They sparkled like glitter covered light bulbs. It was so captivating I then noticed some lacy tree leaves suspended in time, and the striking shadows of tree trunks stretching across the placid surface of the water. I thought, this is a beautiful scene, how can I render this in glass?
The project is simple. You must see it in person, after hearing the story, to really appreciate the true beauty and depth of River Bottom. The takeaway, the invaluable lesson, is that beauty is all around us. We just have to look for it and then let it inspire us to be creative.
Take it outside!
This fall while you’re exploring beaches, mountains and cities open yourself to discovery. Then, when the artistic spark flares, you’ll have an exciting collection of new ideas to fuel what you fire.
Happy fusing! Lisa
Get FREE advanced glass fusing tips and trick in your inbox. Follow my blog for weekly inspiration.
Clever glass fusers know that using strong line quality and bold color saturation in combination is an effective way to create stand-out works of art.
Now take such trustworthy techniques and sprinkle in gradient blends and subtle shading achieved using frit. You’ll be amazed just how quickly your artwork advances to a new, exciting level of sophistication.
In this comprehensive webinar, I’ll show you how to apply several methods I employ to add the striking, painterly-quality I have developed to improve the impact of your glass fusing projects.
I demonstrate how to make SEVEN projects in this Webinar including a sea turtle, flowering tree, to beach scene and more!
You’ll learn: how to evaluate a design to maximize the imagery, steps for successful fabrication and practical tips for building professional quality, finished pieces.
Along with my step-by-step instruction, you’ll also receive complete material lists and project-specific firing guides.
One of the fastest and easiest ways to improve your fused glass art and dramatically expand your design style is to develop your glass cutting skills.
The beauty of working with fusing is the simplicity of the medium. Many people come to the craft with little or no glass cutting experience. Due to the ease of fabrication and wealth of readily available information, they’re successfully producing attractive pieces from the start.
But if you’re now tiring of the simple cut and assemble methods that got you started and longing to move in a more advanced direction, a small dose of technique is the jump start you need.
It may seem like a trivial topic to address, but your project complexity is in direct relation to your cutting confidence. In other words, the better you cut, the more likely you are to venture outside of your comfort zone and take on more challenging projects.
Here are some tips to get you started.
1 Consistent pressure.
Contrary to popular belief, it doesn’t take a heavy hand to make a good score line on glass. What it takes is consistent, medium pressure from the very beginning to the very end of the score. The glass cutter should, “sing” as it rolls over the surface of the glass. It’s a pleasant, consistent sound beginning to end. It’s not a cringing grinding noise. A good score is visible its entire length. But it’s not messy and littered with thin splinters. The grinding noise and splinters are signs you’re applying way too much pressure.
Many beginners start strong but let up the pressure as their hand moves farther away from their body. In this case, breakage tends to occur ¾ of the way down the score line. Beginners believe the score comes solely from the hand. A good score comes from making your wrist, elbow and shoulder one rigid tool. This combined strength and rigidity helps you apply consistent pressure the entire length of the score even at an awkward distance from your body.
When cutting an unusually long piece, I turn the glass so I can run my score right to left instead of away from my body. This way I can move my body along with my hand and more easily maintain the consistent pressure needed for a successful break.
2 Cut on the smoothest side of the glass.
In some cases, I prefer the look, color or pattern on the textured side of a sheet of glass. I turn the glass over and cut on the smoother side and then simply turn the glass back over when I assemble my project. The glass cutter wheel will have better, more consistent, contact with the glass the entire length of the score if you cut on the smoothest side.
3 Beginning and end.
Try to start your score as close to the leading edge of the glass as possible without falling backward off the glass. Apply consistent, medium pressure from the very start. End the score as close to the far edge as possible without falling off the glass. Repeatedly falling off the glass edge will damage the cutter wheel and could possibly cause the glass to shatter.
4 Use the right tool for the job.
Use a strip cutter or circle cutter when applicable. Accuracy is key for professional quality artwork. These tools give your work consistency. Plus, they save material by reducing waste and breakage.
When cutting strips, I cut a few more than I need and select the best, straightest strips for my project. The extra pieces find their way into smaller projects, pot melts or free flows. Nothing goes to waste.
Whenever possible, I opt to use running pliers over grozing or breaking pliers to break glass away from a sheet. Running pliers give the most reliable results. They work best if the glass being removed is at least as wide as the rubber tipped plier jaw. When breaking narrow or small curved pieces away, I choose grozing plies because the narrow jaw fits in tight places and allows me to get close to the score line.
5 Use paper patterns.
Don’t hesitate to cut around a paper pattern to include an intricate shape in your work. This is a terrific way to transition away from strictly geometric designs and into pieces with lively organic elements.
Glass wants to break in a straight line. To cut rounded shapes, we make a series or gradual curves and break the excess glass away in steps until we have a glass shape that closely resembles our pattern.
When cutting around a paper pattern piece, cut as close to the paper as possible without running into it. Beginners tend to cut a wide safety halo around the paper. It just postpones the inevitable. Be brave. Go for it. If the glass is going to break unfavorably the halo, no matter how heavenly, won’t prevent it.
Something to build on.
The more time and effort you put into each step makes the next step easier and the finished product that much better. Don’t rush a project just to get it in the kiln. Give it the time it needs and produce your best work, every time. If you have to ask, “Is this good enough,” it probably isn’t. Do yourself a favor, re-do that piece or step. You can thank me later when you’re doing the, my piece came out awesome, happy dance.
Clever glass fusers know that using strong line quality and bold color saturation in combination is an effective way to create stand-out works of art.
Now take such trustworthy techniques and sprinkle in gradient blends and subtle shading achieved using frit. You’ll be amazed just how quickly your artwork advances to a new, exciting level of sophistication.
In this comprehensive webinar, I’ll show you how to apply several methods I employ to add the striking, painterly-quality I have developed to improve the impact of your glass fusing projects.
I demonstrate how to make SEVEN projects in this Webinar including a sea turtle, flowering tree, to beach scene and more!
You’ll learn: how to evaluate a design to maximize the imagery, steps for successful fabrication and practical tips for building professional quality, finished pieces.
Along with my step-by-step instruction, you’ll also receive complete material lists and project-specific firing guides.
Great glass work is the product of a strong foundation and knowledge base. So, let’s go back to the basics and make sure you’re clear on the fundamentals that produce consistent, high quality artwork.
Fusing Fundamentals-Beyond Basics
Wherever you are in your glass fusing journey, newbie or advanced artisan, I believe we can all benefit from reviewing construction basics on occasion. Here’s why:
Excited newbies are usually so eager to cut glass that they don’t really hearthe guidelines and they lack the experience to realize the relative importance of these recommendations on their finished project. While advanced crafters are absorbed in the creative process and the end result, to the point that they can go blind to the practicality of solid construction.
Then there are those dare devils who’ve stumbled onto glass fusing and are immediately hooked. They dive right in giving little, if any, consideration to protocol. You know who you are. You fire first and ask later.
No matter how you came to call yourself a fuser, this is for you.
Let’s start at the beginning.
Glass Fusing- Defined
Glass fusing is the process of taking compatible glass, stacking it to make a pattern or design and then firing it in a kiln until the glass melts together. Simple, right? Now, let’s build from there.
Glass Fusing Fundamentals
Volume Control – The Foundation for Quality Work
What’s volume control, and why is it important?
Volume control is the relationship between how a project is assembled and its finished size, shape and thickness after fusing. It’s a formula you can use to accurately predict how your project will look and feel after it’s been fired.
Let’s say you want to fuse a series of glass tiles to make a back-splash for your kitchen. But you can only fit 20 tiles in your kiln at one time, and you need 200 tiles to complete the job.
With what you’ll soon learn about volume control, every tile from the first to the last will match beautifully. Or let’s say you have a tropical fish pattern you’d like to work into a larger project. Here, the size and shape of the finished piece is very important to you. If the fish shrinks or grows in size, it could ruin the entire design.
Another thing to consider, is whether or not you intend to slump your fused glass. The fused glass must fit neatly inside the mold, not on the rim, or it will slump unevenly to one side. This is where volume control comes into effect. With it, you’ll know how to compensate for any potential growth in advance of fusing your glass. (A good rule of thumb is to measure the mold and then cut your glass ¼ inch to ½ inch smaller than that measurement.)
You have choices when it comes to how to assemble your projects. Different methods of construction will result in different project characteristics. Our goal here is to give you the tools to make educated decisions when selecting your technique so you have greater control and more satisfying results.
How Glass Reacts to High Heat
Fused glass seeks a thickness of ¼ inch. That means a project made with a single layer of 1/8” thick glass will shrink. When it shrinks, the edges roll in and can become sharp. This shrinkage causes inconsistencies in the glass thickness. It’s usually surprisingly thick around the perimeter and thin in the middle. A project made by layering two pieces of 1/8” thick glass is likely to retain its original size and shape and will have a consistent thickness throughout. While a project made by layering three pieces of 1/8” thick glass will grow. When it grows, the shape distorts, and a square becomes a bad circle.
Before starting a project, ask yourself how it will be used. If it’s an ornament, a single layer might be your best method of assembly due to the loose, free form shape and its light weight. If the piece is intended to be a decorative bowl, the two-layer assembly would be my choice. It has a clean, rounded edge quality and is consistent in thickness throughout. Now, if I were making a patterned sheet of glass to cut up with my saw, I’d go for the three-layer approach. In this example, the finished size and shape of the fused glass blank is irrelevant because the fused glass will be cut up.
How the placement of accents effect the size and shape of fused glass.
My Building Process
Most of my work is assembled with the two layer, plus accent method. I refer to the bottom layer as the base and the second as the design layer. The base layer and design layer are the same shape and size. The base layer is often a single piece of clear, but not always; sometimes it’s made up of cut pieces. The second design layer can be a single piece of glass, but often, its pieces fit together to make a specific pattern or design. The third accent layer is minimal, and it usually consists of small fusible elements that enhance the design theme. I choose to build this way because I get consistent results time after time. The finished size and shape of the artwork is predictable. The pieces come out of the kiln with beautiful, rounded edges and a consistent thickness that is both attractive and durable.
It’s All Good
Keep in mind, there’s no single right or wrong way to make any project. Personal preference, design style and function, should all play a role in helping you decide which approach is best. The objective is to consciously choose your fabrication method based on a solid understanding of the medium, rather than on a whim.
There are always exceptions to the rules. The minute I make finite rules for myself, I break them. So, I’ve learned not to box myself in. You shouldn’t either.
Enjoy the journey. The destination will take care of itself.
