Pink ribbons

Started by HelenM, March 07, 2014, 12:51:07 PM

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HelenM

Hi , I am new to this forum and not sure if this is the best section to post in but I'm hoping somebody out there might be able to help. I have been playing with fusing glass for a few years, mainly making jewellery and slumped dishes from bullseye CoE90 glass. I would like to make some pendants for a group of friends who are going to a breast cancer charity ball in the summer (men are wearing pink bow ties, we thought it would be nice for the ladies to have pink pendants). Initially I was going to make some pendants from various colours of pink / white glass so that they are all different but the same colours. Then somebody asked if I could make a pink ribbon. From my research on the net it appears there are no copyright issues but making a stylised pink ribbon out of glass is my problem.

My first experiment was with two layers of 3mm glass which I full fused together around a piece of fibre paper to leave a loop in the centre. I used a darker glass for the top of the loop and 2 shades for the arms of the ribbon. This didn't quite work as the 2 arms fused together at the bottom and I was left with what looks like a pink Christmas stocking with a hole through the top. Where the different shades of glass were adjacent to each other they don't have crisp edges.

My second experiment was with fine frit / powder which I have not used before. After lots of research I thought this was worth a try as it would be easier to control the shading in the glass. However I was unable to make a mould from fibre paper successfully and even though I did get the shape OK it was not smooth and even after 2 firings with more frit being added the pieces are very thin and have very jagged edges. I found it very difficult to get the frit where I wanted it to go and impossible to brush off the fibre paper surface.
I can't think of a way to make a better mould and am not even sure if this is the way to go. I have looked at freeze and fuse tutorials and was wondering if this might work, but again it would need a mould. Am I barking up the wrong tree and should I just go back to my idea of making a set of unique pendants in pink glass? This would be a whole lot easier!

This has been quite a frustrating week of glass fusing however the positive outcome is that I have come across this excellent forum which I am sure I will be using a lot more in future. I am very much hoping somebody can give me some useful feedback, anything appreciated! Thanks.

flame n fuse

Hi Helen, Unfortunately the picture doesn't show (there's a special way of adding pictures to this forum via flickr - there's a sticky topic about it somewhere). It might depend on how 3D you want them to be. If you don't mind them being fairly flat, you could maybe do them by fusing a sort of A shape, made of 3 pieces, putting a bit of fibre paper in the hole of the A to keep it open. Otherwise for a more 3D effect, I can imagine that some of the offmandrel workers here would see it as a great opportunity.
Julia

Barnacle Bay

You might like to experiment using air drying clay (Milliput white is very good and very smooth) to make several bows, then use casting powder to make a mould, then use frit to fill.  Take a look here:

http://www.warm-glass.co.uk/moulds-casting-mould-making-materials-c-96_93.html

Hope that helps  ;)

HelenM

Thanks for your replies. I realised the photo didn't upload, have now found the sticky on how to do that. I will probably re-do experiment one with more fibre paper to keep the arms of the ribbons from fusing together. Also, Barnacle Bay, I have got some air dry clay and was wondering how to use it. Now I know it needs more stages - I did think I would just use it and "carve" out the ribbon shape and then fill it with frit but that won't make a smooth mould. I did look at the warm glass site for ideas but didn't think of making a clay ribbon then using casting powder to make a mould from that. I shall investigate, thank you.

Pat from Canvey

Sorry to be so late in replying but it might have been easier to get a flameworker to make the ribbons from rods. These could then be mashed to turn the rounded rods to look more like ribbons.

Jane C ♫

You could use powder frit and a stencil?
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