Glass fusing

Last month I started an Essex County Council Adult Community Learning kiln glass fusing course at the Wilson Marriage Centre in Colchester.

So far it's been excellent. The theory and science behind the glass fusing is explained, but not at the expense of getting busy with the glass cutter - we were cutting glass and putting pieces in to the kiln in the first lesson.

Before fusing

You start off using greenhouse glass, which is cheap enough to practice on, but gives you a good idea of the tecniques you can try.

We're now moving on to coloured glass from Bullseye. Last week I put my first coloured piece in for fusing, but frustratingly it must have found a cool part of the kiln as it failed to melt sufficiently, so it hasn't reached total fusion, so it's gone back in to the kiln this week along with some other pieces.

Here's a photo of what the glass looks like BEFORE it goes in to the kiln. I'll update the blog with pictures of the finished pieces after next week's class. Now to find some inspiration for something more involved than coasters, as there are only so many coasters one person can use.