Copper Bracelet Update

The copper bracelet I've been working on all week is done - basically. It's in the tumbler, and I'd like it to tumble for 4 or 5 hours before it's really, truly, shiny and done, done, DONE. So no peeking yet!

Here's my process for setting the glass cabochon in the copper:

1st, of course, I created a mock-up on paper. The one below is actually either the 2nd or 3rd paper model I created, because I ran into some design problems on the first few (thank goodness they were on paper!), plus, I was stubbornly insisting on drawing on the paper with Sharpie, instead of pencil, so I kept having to get fresh paper. You can even see some of my Sharpie missteps in the model below - the rectangular markings across the middle of the "cabochon" had to be relocated, because they ended up interfering with the hole placement.

paper model of copper bezel (with errant blue thread from who-knows-where)

I take my paper models to the extreme - for this one, I cut out all the bezel tabs, and actually "set" the cab in the paper model, to make sure all the cuts were in the right places before I took saw to copper.

Here is the copper bezel, with the tabs sawn out and bent, and the connection holes drilled:

 copper bezel (no solder)

Next, I shortened and shaped the 4 tabs, so that as much of my pretty Picasso-style dichroic glass cabochon shows as possible - no point in covering up the pretty with excess copper!

copper bezel with dichroic glass cabochon

I'll be back to show you the finished bracelet tomorrow!

Here's the second dichro slab

Yesterday I took a breather - a whole day away from jewelry and the bead shop. My blue-green dichroic glass slab sat all alone in the kiln at the shop, waiting for me to get here this morning and liberate it!

And I even remembered to check the pic orientation before I took the after pic:

blue-green-lilac Picasso-style dichroic glass slab, fused

same glass stack, before fusing

Look at the big difference in the greens, before and after fusing - interesting!

Today I have a lot of administrative stuff I have to do at the shop, but I'm hoping (fingers crossed!) to knock it out in a few hours, so I can start engraving these slabs this afternoon.

One slab fired

Here is the glass sheet I fired yesterday - fresh out of the kiln, and gorgeous!

As a reminder, here is how it looked before it was fired:

The colors are incredibly vivid! (One day, I'll learn to check the orientation of the before pic BEFORE I take the after pic, so that the orientations match -but not today! - sorry)

The blue-green slab went into the kiln at 8AM this morning, and won't be cool enough to remove from the kiln until early tomorrow AM - but I'll show it as soon as I can.

Can't wait until it's out, and I can start engraving them!

More Picasso Glass

It's been 4 months since I did any glass fusing - and it seems like much longer! There is just not enough time in the day to do all the different things I want to do!

I turned the last Picasso glass run into pendants, and have been wanting some pieces to use as cabs for beading and soldering, so it was time to make more.

I spent all of yesterday, and about 3 hours this AM, cutting, cleaning, and stacking the glass. I ended up with two 6" x 6" glass slabs to fuse, one in cool blues, greens, and lilacs, and the other in warm reds, golds, and oranges:

cool blue, green, and lilac dichroic glass slab, ready for fusing in the kiln

warm red, gold, and orange slab, ready for fusing

I didn't have as much of the red, gold, and orange glass as I wish I'd had, so some other colors are sneaking in to this second slab - but a good 1/3 of it is in the brilliant hot palette I was going for.

This second slab is in the kiln now, and as soon as it comes out, the other will go in. Then, it will be time for engraving, shaping, and other cold working - I should get quite a few nice cabs from this effort, and probably a few pendants, too!

The Picasso Reveal

Time to reveal the completed pieces from my first Picasso Technique glass run:

14 Picasso-style dichroic glass pendants

This is a group shot of all the pieces. I got 14 finished pendants out of the 5 pieces I fired - here are those 5 pieces, fresh out of the kiln from firing:

Picasso-style dichroic glass after 1st firing

From here, I engraved them with the Dremel, with a lot of emphasis on Zentangle patterns:

Picasso-style glass after engraving

Next, I cold-worked them, using the ring saw to cut them into various shapes for pendants, and grinding away rough edges. Then they were ready for firepolishing;

Picasso-style pendants, in the kiln for firepolishing

This was the large piece of glass I fired, with the beautiful blues, purples, greens, and pinks:

large Picasso-style piece, before engraving

Here it is after engraving:

large Picasso-style piece, after engraving

From this large piece, I cut 6 pendants:

6 Picasso-style pendants

Here are some more close-ups of the finished pendants:

As with all dichroic glass, the photos just can't do these pieces justice - they are so incredibly beautiful!

Such a fun (but incredibly labor intensive) technique - can't wait to make some more!

Cutting and Stacking

My friend Deborah and I participated in a fantastic webinar last week - I discovered the webinar on Deborah's blog, and am so glad I did! Thanks, Deborah!

The webinar was led by Tanya Veit, a fantastically talented glass artist, and covered advanced techniques in glass fusing, including Tanya's Picasso technique, as well as glass etching, decals, and many other exciting new things (new to me!)

As with any new technique, I had to buy some stuff before I could start creating - why IS that? Will I ever have enough stuff?

I am still waiting on one item - a pricey digital controller for my kiln. For years, I have been just fine with my analog kiln, but I used a very different firing schedule from the one Tanya recommends for her Picasso technique. The schedule I usually use calls for a fast ramp, and 2 brief holds (10 minutes each) - and so it was no big deal for me to stand by the kiln, babysitting the controller, to make sure the temps stayed on target during the run.

 Dichroic pendant, Picasso technique, by Tanya Veit (pic from Tanya's blog)

The firing schedule recommended for the Picasso technique involves a very slow ramp, plus 4 prolonged hold times - by my calculations, about 8.5 to 9 hours of firing. There is just no way I am going to sit beside the kiln for that long - I have stuff to do!! A shop to run! And my kiln is just too finicky to be left alone with glass inside, so I broke down and ordered a digital controller for it yesterday.

And speaking of yesterday - since I had all the other ingredients on hand, I got them out, organized, and set out to stack some glass.

First, I opened up my brand new, still-in-the-box, Morton cutting system. As a gullible student I was once talked into buying it, and then intimidated by all its parts and instructions, so I never used it. I spent quite a while on Tuesday getting acquainted with it, plowing through the instruction manual, and finally felt confident enough to give it a try (although I'm still not ready for some of the fancier things it can do).

Morton cutting system, set-up for 90-degree cuts (strips, squares, etc)

Morton, with my brand new piece of black glass

I only had a small amount of plain black backing on hand, so I had to order a piece. 

I cut lots of strips yesterday on the Morton - not just my black backing, which I cut into pendant size pieces, but also some glass I have had for years - huge, 24 inch square pieces of glass, some dichroic, some not - that I have moved around from place to place, trying to keep them from breaking. They were so huge, I felt afraid to try to do anything with them. Since the Morton was already out and set up, I grabbed these big sheets of glass and cut them into more manageable 8x8 pieces.

Next, I set about to created the stacks for the Picasso technique. This was WAY harder than Tanya made it look during the webinar! (imagine that!)

 the dichro I plan to use for my Picasso pendants (resting on my still-uncut black sheet)

After hours of tedious cutting of the dichro pieces, I had one (ONE!) pendant stacked:

So - it's more cutting and stacking for me today. My new controller should be here Tuesday, and installation is supposed to be easy (!) so Wednesday may be a firing day. Yay!

You glass fanatics out there should keep an eye out for one of Tanya's webinars - it was a wonderful learning experience!