What's the best book on fusing for a beginner?

[Rachel]

Hi all

I'd love to have a go at fusing and I want to get a good book to read up on it first. 

I've narrowed it down to 2 - Contemporary Warm Glass by Brad Walker or the Complete Guide one by Philippa Beveridge .  Any opinions on either of these or is there another one that would be more suitable?

Thanks - Rachel

[Stacy]

I have Brad Walker's book and found it invaluable!!! Very good.

Sorry can't comment on the other one as I ahve not read it.

[Rachel]

Thanks for that

The last time I looked at that book it was around £35 but it seems to have come down in price.  A couple of places have it for £25 so I think perhaps I should start with that one.

[Zeldazog]

Hi

I did a fusing and slumping course last year.  Our tutor had the Brad Walker book, and a couple of others, but other than to drool over some of the advanced work, I don't remember using the books that much (then again, I am the person who buys the new gadget and tries to get it working, only consulting the manual when it doesn't go to plan....)

I will admit that I didn't actually take any glass books home and read them, and did have a benefit of a course tutor, but to be perfectly honest,the Bullseye Tech Notes which you can download of warm-glass.uk are really very very good, and should be quite informative about what happens to glass at the various stages of fusing.

I'll be honest, I don't know much about the coe glasses other than Bullseye (I have read somewhere about some being softer than others, etc), so some of the temperatures might need altering slightly if you are working with a different range (although firing will vary even from kiln to kiln anyway) but even in my third term I have found these tech notes extremely useful.

You're more than welcome to pick my brain if there's anything I can try and help you with, and I will do my best - get some practice in for me, seeing as they have asked me to teach the first term of the course I studied on last year!

[Shirley]

I've got a book here called Introduction to Glass Fusing by Petra Kaiser. I've read it but not done any fusing yet, so I don't really know if it's any good, but it seems to cover the basics and it has some nice projects. I got it from Amazon for about £16.

[dinah46]

Before you spend money on books try a little surfing at www.warmglass.com where you will find Brad's fusing guide which seems to be basically huge chunks of his book anyway. The bulletin board is also an extremely useful resource

[Rachel]

Thanks for the info guys

I settled on the Brad Walker book - for now anyway   I'm a book addict so now doubt I'll get one of the other ones soon.  Thanks for the link dinah - that's a great site and the board is full of info.

Rachel