Great

PROJECTSGLASS FUSING

Lynn Haunstein

I N C L U D E S F U L L - S I Z E P AT T E R N S

STACKPOLE BOOKS

40 Great GlassFusing Projects

Lynn Haunstein

PHOTOGRAPHS BY ALAN WYCHECK

Copyright © 2014 by Stackpole Books

Published bySTACKPOLE BOOKS5067 Ritter RoadMechanicsburg, PA 17055www.stackpolebooks.com

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof inany form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. All inquiries should be addressed to Stackpole Books, 5067 Ritter Road, Mechanicsburg PA 17055.

The contents of this book are for personal use only. Patterns contained herein may bereproduced in limited quantities for such use. Any large-scale commercial reproductionis prohibited without the written consent of the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

First edition

Cover design by Tessa J. Sweigert

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Haunstein, Lynn.40 great glass fusing projects / Lynn Haunstein ; photographs by Alan Wycheck.

pages cmISBN 978-0-8117-1234-71. Glass fusing.  I. Title.  II. Title: Forty great glass fusing projects.

TT298.H3855  2014738.5—dc23

2013041549

Introduction vii

Chapter 1 Glass for Fusing 1

Chapter 2 Tools and Materials 4

Chapter 3 Basic Skills 8

Chapter 4 Preparing Accent Components 15

Chapter 5 Using a Kiln 22

Chapter 6 40 Great Projects 241 Rainbow Glass Fish 242 Sailboat Night-Light 283 Heart Tile Box Lid 314 Light Pulls 335 Festive Fish Tile 366 Toothbrush Holder and Soap Dish 397 Broken Wine Bottle Bowl 428 Blue Baroque Vase 459 Stenciled Fern Platter 48

10 Fossil Vitrae Platter 5111 Ice Bowl 5412 Embossed Tray 5613 Welcome Sign 5814 Wintry Tree Tile 6015 Nugget Bowl I 6216 Nugget Bowl II 6417 Plant Stakes 6618 Photo-Fused Herb Markers 69

19 Mosaic Christmas Tree Plate 7120 Twisted Cane Platter 7521 Iridized Black Plate 7922 Sushi Set 8123 Photo-Fused Picture Frame 8424 Waterfall Bowl 8825 Frit and Powder Trivet 9226 Three-Tile Water Lily and

Dragonfly Panel 9427 Key Rack 9928 Color Dilution Bowl 10229 Collage Suncatchers 10530 Flattened Bottles 10731 Molded Bottles 11232 Fused Jewelry Pieces 11533 Fused House Number 12534 Garden Trellis 12835 Keyboard Wind Chime 13136 Sea Turtle Birdbath 13537 Leaf Silhouette Panel 13938 Sun Clock 14239 Forget-Me-Not Drop Vase

with Foot 14540 Musical Pendant Light 151

Acknowledgments 159Patterns 161

v

Contents

Once you have made some simplefusing projects, you might want

to make accent components to takeyour work to a higher level. We haveprovided instructions for makingnuggets, bending stringers, makingvitrigraph streamers, and creatingfusible wire hooks.

I hope you enjoy producingunique components that are sure to add creativity and distinction toyour projects. Make plenty—you will find yourself reaching for theseaccent pieces often!

Making NuggetsThere are numerous projects in this book that use fusible nuggets.While commercially prepared fusiblenuggets are available, some projectsmay require nuggets that are sizes or colors you can’t find. Making yourown fusible nuggets is very easy andcan be a good way to use scraps offusible glass.

Start by cutting several strips of glass 5⁄16 inch wide. The grid and cutting system is a great way to cutuniform strips of glass, but you canaccomplish the same results with justa glass cutter and ruler.

Using the cutting system (or a cutterand ruler), score a straight line 5⁄16

inch from the edge of the piece ofglass (see chapter 3 for glass-cuttinginstructions).

Use your breaking pliers to break offthe strip of glass. Notice that the pli-ers are placed at the base of the scoreline for better leverage.

We have created a series of 5⁄16-inchglass strips in a variety of colors.

Use mosaic cutters to nip the glassstrips into small pieces. Grasp theglass with the leading edge of themosaic cutter wheels. Nip off seg-ments that are 1⁄4 to 5⁄16 inch. A gentlesqueeze will break the glass.

CHAPTER 4

Preparing Accent Components

MATERIALS FORMAKING NUGGETS

Grid and glass-cutting system or glass cutterand ruler

Breaking pliersMosaic cutterFusible glass (we used

dark blue, deep aqua, sky blue, and clear)

Kiln paperPrepared kiln shelf

15

Continue nipping the glass into simi-larly sized pieces.

Begin to lay out the glass pieces on a prepared kiln shelf that has beencovered with kiln paper. Allow a lit-tle space between the glass pieces—pieces that touch will not round intoindividual nuggets but will bond tothe neighboring glass.

These pieces are ready for the kiln. If we heat the glass to a full fuse tem-perature, the irregular shapes willround nicely into smooth nuggets.Fire using Firing Schedule C, listed in chapter 5, or use your own pro-gram to fire to a full fuse tempera-ture of 1480 degrees F and hold at the top temperature for 12 minutes.

Allow the kiln to cool to 100 degreesF or less before opening the kiln.After firing, the glass nuggets arenicely shaped.

Wash, rinse, and dry the nuggetswell, and they will be ready for usein your projects.

Bending Stringers in a Torch FlameStringers are thin canes of glass avail-able for purchase in a large variety of colors. For some of our projects,we like to bend these stringers intodifferent shapes to enhance a design.If you have access to a Hot Headtorch head, you can bend manystringers in a short period of time.Similar results can be achieved bybending stringers in a candle flame,but it will take longer and requiressome patience. Whatever methodyou use, bend lots of stringers.

Attach the torch head to the MAP gas tank. Slide the adjustablering over the tank and insert the Lbracket. Tighten the adjustable ringwith a screwdriver.

Clamp the L bracket to your worksurface.

16 | PREPARING ACCENT COMPONENTS

Open the gas tank by turning thecontrol knob on the torch head to the left. Immediately use the strikerto light the torch. Turn the gas backuntil your flame is mostly blue andabout 11⁄2 inch long.

Hold a stringer with tweezers in eachof your hands. Slowly introduce thestringer into the flame. In just a fewseconds, the glass will turn red andyou can manipulate its shape.

Continue shaping the stringer fromend to end.

Place the bent stringer on a kilnpaper-covered baking tray to cool.

When you have bent as manystringers as you want, be sure to stop the gas flow by turning the control knob on the torch head to the right.

The stringers will cool veryquickly and be ready for use in myriad project designs!

| 17PREPARING ACCENT COMPONENTS

MATERIALS FORBENDING STRINGERSIN A TORCH FLAME

MAP gas tankHot Head torch headAdjustable ringL bracketClampScrewdriverStrikerTweezersBaking sheet covered with

kiln paperFusible stringers

Although there are many ways to use a fused tile, this one will

be inserted in the lid of a woodenbox. The finished box will make a lovely dresser accent for keepingsmall jewelry pieces or coins.

Pattern on page 161

| 31HEART TILE BOX LID

PROJECT 3

Heart Tile Box Lid

MATERIALS

White fusible glass, 31⁄8-inch circle

Red Mardi Gras fusible glass,31⁄8-inch circle

Red opal fusible glass, 1⁄4 square foot

Pattern, two copiesScissorsRubber cementGlass-cutting toolsHairspray in pump containerAdhesiveWooden box with lidKiln paperPrepared kiln shelf

These projects will be nice addi-tions to any bathroom. They

were created with black-and-whiteon clear Baroque glass. Although the glass is not marketed as a COE 96fusing glass, there is no problem withcompatibility because the glass is notfused to any other glass. Using aglass like this can run the risk of devitrification, however, as was described in chapter 1. To prevent a cloudy look on our project, we will apply a lead-free overglaze.

| 39TOOTHBRUSH HOLDER AND SOAP DISH

MATERIALS

Black-and-white over clearBaroque glass, 8-inch squarefor the toothbrush holder

Black-and-white over clearBaroque glass, 4- by 5-inchrectangle for the soap dish

Prepared short stainless-steelfloral former mold

Prepared 51⁄4-inch square slumping mold

RulerGlass markerLead-free overglazeSoft brushKiln paperPrepared kiln shelf

PROJECT 6

Toothbrush Holder and Soap Dish

Nature provides us with someamazing designs. In this project,

we will use a variety of plant materi-als to create a beautiful platter.

48 | 40 GREAT PROJECTS

PROJECT 9

Stenciled Fern Platter

MATERIALS

Dark blue cathedral fusible glass, 77⁄8 by 117⁄8 inches

Clear fusible glass, 8 by 12 inchesVariety of ferns and leaves, pressed

overnight to flattenDust maskMica powderSpoonTweezersSmall powder sifterHairspray in pump containerClear stringersKiln paperPrepared kiln shelfPrepared slumping mold

This creative bowl is a delicatepiece of glass. While it may not

be as hefty as some of the other pro-jects you create, it makes a nice ac-cent piece for display. Experimentwith different color combinations to complement your home décor.

62 | 40 GREAT PROJECTS

PROJECT 15

Nugget Bowl I

MATERIALS

Clear fusible nuggets, about 120Sky blue fusible nuggets, about 180Deep aqua fusible nuggets, about 200Dark blue fusible nuggets, about 240Kiln paperPrepared kiln shelfPrepared slumping mold, 12-inch

round, shallow bowl

Afused key rack is an unusual but functional piece of art. It

will help organize the morning rushas your family heads off to work orschool.

Patterns on pages 165–66

| 99KEY RACK

PROJECT 27

Key Rack

MATERIALS

Fuser’s Reserve glass, 7 by 9inches

White fusible glass, 67⁄8 by 87⁄8inches

Aventurine green fusible glass,1⁄3 square foot

17-gauge fusible wireWire cuttersNeedle-nose pliersPattern templatesSilver markerGreen vitrigraph streamers or

bent stringersGlass-cutting toolsRulerHairspray in applicator bottlePattern for hook layoutKiln paperPrepared kiln shelfPrepared wave-shaped slumping

mold

112 | 40 GREAT PROJECTS

PROJECT 31

Molded Bottles

Another method of slumping bot-tles is to fire them directly into

a mold. We have included two exam-ples, but there are many possibilities.

Fused glass jewelry has gainedpopularity in recent years. Many

techniques have been refined by ex-perienced glass fusers to provide avariety of sparkling accents to anywardrobe. We will present severaljewelry projects using individualcabochons; we will also make a fusedsheet of dichroic glass that will be cutinto shapes with a glass saw. At theend of the project section, we willshow you how to attach the appro-priate jewelry findings to your glass.

Pro Tip: Remember to maximizeyour kiln usage by firing projectstogether. As jewelry pieces aregenerally small, they can betucked around the edges of otherprojects that will be fired to thesame temperature.

Patterns on page 165

| 115FUSED JEWELRY PIECES

PROJECT 32

Fused Jewelry Pieces

This pendant light will be sure to impress the musician in your

family. The layout of the design takestime and patience, but the end resultmakes it all worthwhile!

| 151MUSICAL PENDANT LIGHT

PROJECT 40

Musical Pendant Light

MATERIALS

White fusible glass, 2 sheets 12 by 12 inches

Black noodlesBlack stringersBlack fusible nuggets, 80 to 90

made from 1⁄4- by 1⁄4-inch glasspieces

RulerHairspray in applicator bottleGlass-cutting toolsTweezersGlass markers, black and silver1⁄4-inch grinder bitPendant light fixtureKiln paperPrepared kiln shelfPrepared tall floral former mold

CRAFTS/Stained Glass

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