This entry was posted on Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 10:05 am and is filed under Fine Jewelry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
Many people who have encountered fused glass have done so in jewelry stores or art galleries. And this makes sense as the results of fused glass make for stunning and beautiful pieces. Whether it’s a pair of fused glass earrings or an artistic series of glass tiles, fused glass can be understood as any glass that has been exposed to extreme heat in a kiln. These temperatures generally range from 1100 degrees F to 1500 degrees F.
The process of firing is generally broken into three separate stages. The lowest range of heat is a process known as slumping. The next higher heat range is what is known as tack fusing, while the highest heats are considered a “full fuse.” Most often, the process involves stacking very thin pieces of glass of varying colors to create unique patterns and colors after the heating process. Amateur artists should be wary, however, of attempting this process without any supervision. The extreme temperatures of the glass make it very prone to shattering during the cooling process.
