Fused Glass Redfish Red Drum Fish Silhouette Box

Fish Silhouette Fused Glass Sliding Top for Wooden Box

A Redfish, or Red Drum, silhouette in white Bullseye Glass is fused to a blue streaky background to form a sliding cover for my wooden box.  This fish silhouette started as a sketch of an original drawing taken from Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission webpage but really, inspiration for the idea of a fish silhouette came from a sticker I saw on a Yeti cooler.

Redfish Sihouette Tracing Glued to Bullseye White Glass

I just received my new Taurus Ring Saw and can't wait to try it.  After watching the very dramatic video that came with the Taurus Ring Saw, I followed the instructions and stuck my tracing of the sketch directly to the white glass using rubber cement.  After waiting a few minutes for the glue to dry, I flipped the power switch and started cutting. 

Fish Silhouette Ready For My New Taurus Ring Saw

I was very worried about snapping the blade, so I tried to let the saw do all the work and it was amazing!  The intricate dorsal fin shape and the inside circle were all so easy!  I have no idea how I ever lived without it.  Now just a little clean up with the grinder and the fish is ready to be tack fused to the already pre-fired base.  Yeah. 

Fish Cut Out on Ring Saw and Ready For Clean Up

Fused Glass Beer Inspired Art Pot Melts

Fused Glass Vintage Bike on a Red Pot Melt

Art inspired by beer!  The New Belgium Beer labels feature amazing art by Leah Giberson.  Their bottle cap and their fat tire amber ale has a retro vintage bike that just screamed to be reimagined in glass.  I went with a white version and placed it on a red glass pot melt.

Fused Glass Art Inspired by Beer

More cool images - a Japanese beer we found Whole Foods has the cutest owl printed on the bottle and the cap.  Here is my interpretation just staring out at you with deep red eyes.  I added a crescent moon to balance out picture.  Who knew beer could be so arsty?

Fused Glass Retro Owl on a Red Pot Melt

Fused Glass Beach Art

Fused Glass Beach Chair

Everyone needs a day at the beach with warm sand, striped umbrellas and the beautiful sunshine!  Ocean waves slowly roll in and just barely lap at your toes as you relax in your white beach chair.  I created this unique glass art painting from an original drawing in my sketchbook.

Bullseye Fused Glass Powders and CMC for Sand Painting

To create the sand in this fused glass piece, I started with light peach cream sheet glass and Bullseye powder in black, brown and butterscotch.  I spread CMC (cellulose gum) on the sheet glass and then sifted powder.  The black powder was used sparingly and mostly for shadows.

Fused Glass Beach Sand from Powders

Now your sand is ready to be used in lots of projects.  Please note that I did not pre-fire the sand.  Here is a fused glass sliding box top accented with glass starfish and a sand dollar - perfect for collecting shells and beach glass!

Beach Themed Fused Glass Sliding Top for Wooden Box

Fused Glass Seahorse

Fused Glass Seahorse with Copper Fish Inclusions

I love how seahorses meander through giant oceans as they gently float on the currents.  To create a striped complicated shape like a seahorse from glass scrap should be no problem!

Fused Glass Seahorse from Bullseye Scrap Glass Before Firing

I drew a basic outline in pencil directly on the Bullseye thinfire paper.  The pencil will burn off during firing and will not transfer to the glass.  Then, cut to width Bullseye glass strips in shades of white, cream and pink.  Please note that the glass strips need to be at least 1/4 inch tall when standing on edge, or the final piece may have holes in it.

Fused Glass Seahorse from Bullseye Scrap Glass After Firing

The arranged glass strips were heated to 1500 degrees F for 15 minutes to completely fuse.  Here is my seahorse after firing.  He looks a bit lumpy and sort of pregnant, so I used my mosaic tile nippers and trimmed to the dashed lines.  Then I cold worked on the grinder to clean everything up. 

Fused Glass Seahorse Creation

Now for the base glass.  I cut a sheet of Bullseye opaque white and a piece of transparent cool blue.  Tiny fish were hand cut from a roll of stained glass copper foil and placed on the white and then capped with the blue.  The full fused seahorse was then placed on top with an eye and some fins added.  The final art piece was taken to a tack fuse to keep the texture and then framed.  Voila.

Contour Fuse of Seahorse for Lots of Texture

Fused Glass Trees and Trailers

Fused Glass Owls Glamping with a Teardrop Trailer

Two owls camp under a crescent moon as the stars shine brightly above their teardrop trailer.  The tree top in this picture was created in an earlier firing to completely fuse the greens.  I use scrap Bullseye glass in many shades of green to create each tree top.  The scrap is scored and broken into smaller strips of varying widths and lengths.

Scrap Green Bullseye Glass for Tree Projects

The cut scrap is arranged on thinfire paper on the kiln shelf.  The first and last strip are flat, but all other pieces are standing on edge so the fired clump of glass will be a 1/4 inch thick.  Here is a photo taken at an angle so you can see the groupings.

Green Scrap Glass Standing on Edge

Here is another photo taken from the top before running the kiln.  These bits were fired to a full fuse at 1500 degrees F and held at this process temperature for 15 minutes.

Glass Trees in the Kiln Before Firing

Finished!! The tree greens look fantastic after the kiln has cooled.  Some striker marigold sneaked into a few of the groupings and the different bits of green melted down into nice organic stripes.  There was quite a bit of spreading but each one can be shaped later.

 

Fused Glass Trees in the Kiln After Firing

I use the trees both horizontally and vertically.  A Volkswagen bus is parked next to a pine tree in this glass painting, but maybe the next one will have an entire forest.

VW Volkswagen Bus Camping Under the Stars

Cherry Blossom Sakura Flowers Fused Glass Art Window Panels

Delicate cherry blossoms formed of sheer layered petals in soft shades of pink allow dappled light to gently pass through this fused glass art. 

Fused Glass Cherry Blossoms Floating on a Sky of Glass

These glass petals remind of the five years we spent living in Japan.  I don't think we will have the opportunity to move back overseas and see another Cherry Blossom Festival, but this set of fused glass blooms helps to capture that moment.

One Fused Glass Cherry Blossom Panel

Each fused glass art panel is filled with cherry blossoms frozen in time, just before the wind gently blows the petals free.  Each flower bloom, branch and leaf was created from Bullseye glass sheets and crushed glass (frit).

The Second Fused Glass Cherry Blossom Panel

I used flexi-glass medium and Bullseye frit in petal pink and white to produce a filmy glass sheet for the flower petals.  The flex-glass instructions said to first spread the medium onto the transfer sheet, next sift the glass powder, and then bake until dry.  The final glass sheet was more delicate than I expected, but made a sheer and gauzy glass that really feels like petals.

Using Flexi-Glass Medium To Create Sheets of Glass

Each cherry blossom petal was individually cut from this ultra-thin variegated pink and white glass sheet.  I layered groupings of petals into organically shaped blooming clusters that fill each art glass panel.  To create the branches, I layered opaque thin strips of chocolate brown glass with course chunks of transparent amber glass and assorted light brown glass frits and fired them to a full fuse.

Fused Glass Cherry Blossom Creation

Here is another photo of one glass cherry blossom panel in different lighting and placed on a slate background.  I love how the the layers of petals give such depth.  Each finished window hangs from a set of heavy duty brass roll hooks and brass chain.

Shamrock Luck and Ladybug Love Fused Glass Horseshoe

Fused Glass Lucky Horseshoe Filled with a Ladybug and a Shamrock

I found these horseshoes at a local antique store and I just couldn't resist up-cycling them with fused glass lucky symbols.  Each one frames a unique fused glass design woven into the nail holes of the horseshoe.

Traditionally, hanging a horseshoe above the door acts as a storage bin for any good luck that happens to be floating by.  I hope there is still some room in these.

Great Blue Heron Egret Fused Glass Antique Window with Waterbird

A Fused Glass Great Blue Heron Framed in an Antique Window

A great blue heron stands calm and motionless, just witnessing the day as his image fills the frame of this recycled antique window.

The Fused Glass Heron Photographed in Afternoon Light

Here is another photo of the same fused glass window in different lighting.  The heron seems almost balanced, just standing and patiently waiting.

We Saw This Waterbird While Paddling the Eastern Shore.

This great blue heron was spotted while kayaking Virginia's Eastern Shore.  That day we paddled past bald eagles sitting in trees and watched as turtles motored by.  I'm always amazed at how different the world looks from the water.  

An Original Heron Sketch for Fused Gass

This art glass started as a sketch on large graph paper.  I tried to capture the curve of the the feathers from the crested head and repeat them in the undulations of the water and the shapes of the grasses.  At this point the sky is kind of unplanned.

The heron and background were cut and pieced so that the art glass could be taken to a full fuse.  This will make the final panel seamless and smooth.  It is 2 layers thick and heavier than other pieces I've created.

Bullseye Fused Glass Powders and CMC for Detail Painting

To add detail to the heron, I mixed Bullseye Glass Powders and CMC in dixie cups and applied with a toothpick, very technical.  Glass added in varying shades of blue and then layered over opaque white help to give the body a feathered look.  I used aventurine blue sparingly because it has such a high saturation.

Bullseye Glass Powder and Frit Background Before Firing

After firing to a full fuse, I flipped the now solid glass piece over and built up the sky and clouds.  Soft blue and turquoise powders were sifted on the back with clear frit added to create an almost lacey pattern.  The clouds were mixed with a little liquid to make them thicker and then more powder was added to give them an even thicker feel.

A Fused Glass Heron - Statuesque and Peaceful

This is my great blue heron after its third and final firing.  He stands statuesque and peaceful.

Fused Glass Dichroic Jewelry Necklaces

My favorite part of working with glass is designing something unique, from the original sketch to the shiny finished piece.  I created some fused glass pendants that incorporate different types of dichroic glass.  The color of dichroic glass shifts as the angle of light changes creating a rainbow of colors within each pendant.  My favorite is the fish tail swimming away on an wavy blue ocean.

Some new fused glass pendant necklaces.

Each pendant is made from layers of dichroic and Bullseye glass and fired in my JenKen kiln to temperatures ranging from 1425 deg F to 1550 deg F depending on the final thickness.  I use E6000 to attach bails to the pendants and let it cure 48 hours.

A loveable owl and an adorable blue bird in fused glass.

Here are two more dichroic art glass necklaces featuring a loveable red owl with a dichroic heart shaped chest and an adorable blue bird with a dichroic heart shaped wing.