Lighthouse Loveliness

A few weeks ago, I attended a 3-hour glass fusion workshop at Making Space, run by Elisa Dodd.  Unlike my previous fusion workshop when I made my wave, which was tack fused and textured, this panel would be heated to a higher temperature and be fully fused and smooth.

The homework before the workshop was to find a scene that we wanted to make and I opted for a lighthouse and drew my design onto tracing paper.

After a few scoring and cutting practices using plain glass, the proper cutting began.  I simplified my design so that I had fewer pieces to cut.  The design was built onto a piece of plain glass, under which was my tracing paper so I could attempt to follow my design.  The cutting didn’t always go according to plan though!

Once the basics of the background and building were in place, it was time to play with frit and stringers.  Frit is tiny pieces of glass that can be sprinkled on.  I used it for the clouds, waves and seaweed on the rocks.  Stringers are thin strings of glass and I heated them over a tealight candle flame so that I could bend them into seagull shapes.

The panels were fired in the kiln at the workshop and collected a few weeks later.  Fully fusing means the glass completely melts giving the solid lines a slightly rounded edge.  Here’s my “before and after”. 

I was particularly pleased with how the rocks turned out.

I think that maybe a countryside scene without buildings would be better suited to this technique for someone with my glass-cutting abilities.  I’m not using mine as a suncatcher but have it hung on the side of a white bookcase so the colours are more vibrant.