As its been far to cold in my shed to melt glass I have been having a go at fusing. Needless to say I have a few questions, sorry if they have been asked and answered before, I did look.
On some but not all of my pieces I have a very fine line of bubbles near the edge of the glass. I think that it is where I cut the glass sheet (like the scum on the end of a rod of glass). I'm using a cheep glass cutter and wondered if I got a good quality oil one it would reduce this?
So far I have been rolling up a bit of ceramic paper to form the hole. As the glass melts around the paper it draws the glass in at the edges, nicely rounded and no rough edges. I don't mind this myself but don't know if it is considered acceptable or a flaw? I have tried to overcome it by adding extra glass but it just distorts the decoration.
I'm also wondering if people prefer pendants with the hole formed in the glass or a bail added?
Any advice gratefully received.
I used a cheap glass cutter for years and never used oil or any other lubricant. I just threw it away when it became blunt and bought another. I finally treated myself to a Silberschnit one and am still using it. If you use oil, you only have to clean the glass thoroughly afterwards, particularly when fusing as excess oils can cause bubbles.
Quote from: Black Heart Beads on December 29, 2009, 02:18:14 AM
I'm also wondering if people prefer pendants with the hole formed in the glass or a bail added?
I think this is a matter of personal choice. With a hole formed, you don't have to worry about whether a glue will hold, however a lot of people do still like to see a silver bail.....
QuoteAs the glass melts around the paper it draws the glass in at the edges, nicely rounded and no rough edges. I don't mind this myself but don't know if it is considered acceptable or a flaw? I have tried to overcome it by adding extra glass but it just distorts the decoration.
The "dog-boning" effect is perfectly acceptable as far as I am concerned - so long as they're smooth, as rough edges aren't. Again, its probably down to personal taste. I like my (glued on bail) pendants even and straight, with parallel sides, but I have a friend who much prefers them when they are slightly bumpy, as she says it's proof they're hand made. Everybody likes different things.
When I do a "slider" pendant as I call them (don't know where that came from), I make the pendant in three layers - the bottom colour is full size, the top clear cap is full size, but the middle layer, which can be plain or coloured, depending on design, I actually split a piece into two, and make it slightly shorter, and lay these either side of the ceramic fibre paper - I don't know if you do this?
It still doesn't eliminate the pulling in, but it does seem to reduce it certainly on the bottom layer -what's happening is the glass wants to be 6mm thick, so the glass layers try pull in to try and achieve this.
Thank you both,
I will get an oil cutter and see if that helps.
I admit I have been trying to avoid using glue as I have read a lot about the problems with it. So it is a relief to hear that "dog-boning" is acceptable. I have tried your suggestion about leaving a gap for the fiber paper and do prefer it that way.
Thanks again for your help :-*