Fused Glass

A few weeks ago I did a day of fused glass. It's not something I'd ever done before, or even really thought about, so when I arrived I wasn't really sure what I was going to make. The first thing I made was a bit of an experiment, using some nice shimmery glass with little metal stars and glass paint trapped in the middle. These produce bubbles when they are put in the kiln, but the shimmery glass I used was  a bit too shimmery and you can only see the bubbles in really bright light, and I haven't managed to get a decent photo. Here it is anyway.

Next I decided to make something really simple, some little coasters, using little slices of different coloured rods of glass. These were really quick to do, but I think they were quite effective, if I have another go,I need to make sure the slices are a bit thinner, as the surface has come out a bit bumpy in places.

Finally I wanted to have a go on the saw, so I designed some little birds to hang in the garden. I really like the shimmery purple one, the orange one has a white back, and it came out a bit less shiny than I was hoping, but I think they will look nice hanging outside anyway. They might even scare the real birds off my strawberries!