Home | Gallery | Online Store | Classes | Online Lessons | Site Map | FAQS | Contact Us
Fused Glass Penguins
Creating one of a kind ornaments for your own holiday decor or for gifts is one of lifes simple pleasures. These cute penguins are simple to make and this is a great project for beginning glass fusers.
You will need the following supplies:
- Black Fusing glass
- White Fusing glass
- Clear Fusing glass
- White glue
- Glass paint: Orange (Beak) Black (Eyes and Buttons) White (Snow) Red (Heart) Green, Yellow, Orange, (Star)
- 1/8" Fiber Paper
- Thin Fire Paper
Choose a fusing glass such as Bullseye, Uroburos and Spectrum. When using fusing glass it's best not to combine glass from different manufactures. For instance, fuse Bullseye to Bullseye, Uroburos to Uroburos etc. The reason for this precaution, especially for beginners, is that the expansion rates can vary for glass depending on the manufacturer. Using different brands of glass on a project increases the probability of cracking later on due to the various expansion rates of each type of glass. This project was created using Bullseye glass especially made for fusing projects.
Below is a photograph of the pattern used to create the penguin. Cut the black glass about one quarter of an inch larger than the white glass. This hook was made using a ring saw for glass, however, an upside down "V" shape cut with a conventional glass cutter would make a nice hanger as well. Instead of a hook, glass catalogues and jewelry catalogs carry hangers that can be glued to the back to serve as a hanger. Thoroughly clean the glass pieces. If you used a white grease pencil to mark your glass, remove all of it. Grease pencil sticks permanently to the glass during the firing process.
Next layer the pieces. See sample below. Layer the white glass on top of the black glass. Use a dab of white glue to hold your pieces together. Next, glue the clear glass hook to the piece underneath the black layer. Cut a piece of the 1/8" fiber paper to fill the hole on the hanger. Using the fibre paper keeps the hook or "V" shaped during the firing process. Let the glue dry thoroughly.
Now it is time to fire. Prepare the shelf with glass kiln wash. (Do not use Ceramic Kiln wash) Another alternative to glass kiln wash is thin fire paper. Place the thin fire paper underneath the ornament on the kiln shelf. These days I always use thin fire paper because the kiln wash tends to stick to the back of the molten glass. This is a bit frustrating to scrub off. This stage of a fire is called a full fuse. That means a firing temperature of 1480 degrees to 1500 degrees. On my kiln I hold that temperature for five minutes. This might not be necessary for all kilns. Try a test fire before cooking a whole batch of penguins. :-) The goal is to fuse the glass together without damaging the kiln shelf. Let the kiln cool down on its own. Do not remove the glass until your kiln is completely cool.
Now the really fun part. Painting. Using glass paint, add the details on your penguin. Below are a couple of samples to use as guides. If you removed all of the grease pencil, there really isn't a need to dab those little white dots on the chilly little bird. This step was impromptu because there were fragments of white grease pencil fired onto the black glass. Adding the dots using white glass paint or white enamel for glass concealed the problem and the dots became part of the design. Fire the penguins again at Cone 022. Glass paint bonds to the glass at cone 022. At this point you are done with your unique ornaments. NOTE: Sometimes it is necessary to re-paint and refire the ornaments which increases the intensity of the paint. You can repeat this process as many times as you feel necessary using the cone 022 kiln temp.
© 2002 Mary Lou LaBerge TM
Home | Gallery | Online Store | Classes | Online Lessons | Site Map | FAQS | Contact Us
