He swore it was a high-alumina shelf from a studio closing sale, but it had a hairline crack I missed. Cost me $90 and ruined a whole batch of pendants I was annealing. Anyone know a good supplier for small studio shelves that won't break the bank?
I was fusing some small glass tiles for a mosaic last week and grabbed my kitchen creme brulee torch out of habit. My friend who runs a proper studio saw it and laughed, saying it would never get hot enough. But I've been using it for years on thin glass pieces with no cracks or issues. It heats the glass evenly for basic fusing projects. I think people overcomplicate tools for simple tasks. Has anyone else used unconventional gear for their work?
I was rinsing a plate and noticed the soap film holding together in weird, stretchy sheets. That got me thinking about when I try to make those super thin glass petals for flowers. I used to force it and they'd snap or get lumpy every time. Now I mimic the soap by easing the pull and letting the glass flow on its own timing. My latest lily piece has petals that are evenly thin and actually translucent. It's amazing what you can pick up from just washing up. Gonna use this slow pull method on my next dragonfly wing project.
Most folks in our shop always push for vivid colors in every piece. I don't agree with that anymore. Recently, I finished a clear glass orb for a client. It was just plain, with a smooth surface. They said it was perfect because it didn't distract from their room. Now I see that clear work can stand out too. Sometimes, the basics are what people really want.
I kept running into this issue where my color blends would turn into a dull brown mess instead of a nice mix. I was working on a small vessel and wanted a sunset effect with orange fading into purple. The first few tries, the colors just swirled together into mud. I figured out that if you put a super thin gather of clear glass between your color layers before you start blending, it acts like a tiny buffer. It gives you a second to heat everything evenly without the colors touching and mixing too fast. Now I get a much smoother shift from one color to the next. It's not perfect every time, but it helped a lot. Anyone else try something like this to keep their colors clean?
Figured out my initial gather temp was too low. Pushing the heat higher first thing fixed it, lol.