Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Fused Glass Trees and Trailers

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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 Tree Forest Component Green Bullseye Glass Scrap Project What to do flutterbybutterfly flutterbyfoto
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.

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VW Volkswagen Bus Camping Under the Stars