Alphabet Moulds

[richardnash666]

Hi

As a new and happy Paragon SC3 owner I fancy having a go at fusing (I have a starter kit from Warm Glass) so basically I want to make a picture of seperate coaster sized bits of glass with my Nephews name with one letter per coaster and then mount in a frame.

Whilst to me it feels like should be reasonably simple but I would like some alphabet moulds. I seem to be able to get the from the states, but was wondering if there are any around in the UK that anybody is aware of. Have tried Warm Glass and Tempsford Stained Glass but no luck so far.

So my plan would be to make the letters and then fuse to 5 seperate pieces of glass. Hopefully in one hit per letter or probably make the letters and then fuse those to the sheets.

As I am sure you can tell until I have managed to have a quick play at it I dont know what is possible and what I can do.

Always fancied fusing so once I got a kiln decided would try making more out of that investment.

Cheers

R

[anditsinthefish]

I wanted to get letter moulds but at £50 plus postage of £40 from the states it was too expensive. I have yet to find any in the UK, seems there is only one supplier in the US too.

I have made my own out of fridge magnet letters and clay. Have yet to fire one as my kiln has been full for Christmas. But I will get round to it

[richardnash666]

Suspect found the same shop on etsy...DoctorMud by any chance?

[flame n fuse]

You could try glass paints, frit or enamels instead. The bullseye and warmglass websites have a lot of resources on them.

[Fluffstar]

Try www.creativeglassshop.co.uk - they have the full range of creative ceramics moulds, including numbers.  They might have alphabet...

You could also cut the letters out of copper foil and fuse them in between two sheets - just be sure and add little bits of glass on the corners so you don't get mahoosive ugly bubbles!

[richardnash666]

Am feeling at the mo that Frit may be the best bet and should be able to have some fun with the colours.

So one other related question...what would be the best Fusing book for beginners

[Nina A]

Funnily enough I'm in the process of doing a  very similar thing,  but with the words Merry Christmas/ Joy / Noel.
I brought some cheap biscuit cutters from ebay and some fine plaster and quartz, coated the cutters with oil and covered with the plaster/quartz mix. At the moment I'm waiting for the plaster to dry out completely before I fill it with Frit and full fuse.  I then intend to  do a very light Tack fuse to the pre-full fused sheets.  (I was thinking of doing a Freeze Fuse but I don't have any  Glass powder.) 
The plaster mold should be dry by the weekend, so should be able to use in the kiln.  Hopefully - if successful - I'll post the results.  (and if not successful I'll also let you know)

[flame n fuse]

Books: I have the previous edition of this book. I don't know about this new edition, but the previous one dealt pretty well with technical issues and I am not aware of anything better. (though, these days, the bullseye glass tech sheets and tutorials cover an enormous amount of stuff   http://www.warm-glass.co.uk/contemporary-fused-glass-book-p-917.html

[Moira HFG]

Or you could use this stuff from Warm Glass:

http://www.warm-glass.co.uk/castalot-casting-plaster-p-2627.html

This is a bit more resilient than plaster, you can re-use moulds made from it quite a few times before they crack. I used to make shaped pendants with it.

[Pat from Canvey]

Have a look at my post http://www.frit-happens.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=45534.0 about Dee Poole's liquid glass stringer. She also has a number of simple fuse projects on YouTube which can be done in an SC2. You'd be able to "write" each letter with the stringer and the cost would be much smaller than buying expensive molds.

[richardnash666]

Had discovered Liquid Stringer on warm glass yesterday when looking for something else. So am def gonna be trying that out as found a font I like so in theory just need to trace the outline or some other artistic method the font onto the glass.

I know that ideally need to get the glass to 6mm to get a shape retaining firing and that you need about 4mm of powder/frit to achieve the same weight as 3mm glass. Does liquid stringer alter that in any way?

Been thinking as typing and may mirror the font so that the front will be nice and clean adn any how shall I put it...artistic exuberance can hide on the back.

Think I said that will be doing these letters onto pieces of coaster sized clear glass

[anditsinthefish]

Yes that etsy shop sounds like the one!

I also found an alphabet mould in lake-land yesterday. Going to try and freeze fuse that.

Though I have such a huge queue for my SC2 it may not happen until 2016!

[Pat from Canvey]

. So am def gonna be trying that out as found a font I like so in theory just need to trace the outline or some other artistic method the font onto the glass.

If you still intend to use clear glass, why not put a piece of photocopied font under the glass to trace with your stringer. If you use a fine enough tip, there should be no problem.