A few fusing questions

[Black Heart Beads]

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.

[Pat from Canvey]

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.

[Zeldazog]

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.....

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.

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.

[Black Heart Beads]

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