This time, in this glass fusing project, I’ll be making a fused glass Japanese bowl using slices from that pattern bar I made a little while ago. In that video, see here, you see me slicing it into 6mm slices on a repurposed tile saw.
In this video, I take those slices and incorporate them as the central feature of a beautiful bowl. Hope you enjoy it.
Project Information
In the YouTube video, you will find links to related videos, a chapter list with time stamps, and links to more resources.
All of the glass, I’m using is Bullseye 90 COE. I normally use Thinfire fiber paper on my shelves and boron nitride spray, on moulds.
This video tutorial covers the creation of a fused glass Japanese bowl using slices from the pattern bar I made earlier. You can find that video here.
The slices were cut on a cheap repurposed tile saw from the local hardware store. It isn’t the best solution, but it works, sort of
The slices formed the central feature of this piece. They were cut and assembled as a mirror pair to highlight the pattern. This required some grinding to make sure all pieces were of equal width. The lengths were not as important, as long as each pair matched, as the final length of the feature was to define the final dimensions of the bowl.
The final dimension of the piece is 223 mm (8.8 inches) square. The feature worked out at 41 mm (1.6 inches) wide, and the coloured sides are 78 mm (3 inches) wide. The black strips on either side of the feature are 6 mm strips of 3 mm glass on the edge. The outside borders are 10 mm (.4 inches) wide.
The colour used for the sides is Bullseye 0132 Driftwood Grey.
When grinding any glass, be sure to keep the glass wet. Immerse in water if possible. If the ground glass dries on the slices it can be difficult to remove. If any ground glass is left behind it will likely cause devitrification, and depending on how you use the glass, especially with transparent glass, can result in cloudy veils.
When I coldworked the wobbly ends I used a large diamond flat lap. You can use other things like diamond pads but they will be more labor-intensive. You can also just use wet and dry sandpaper. Try 360 grit of something similar.
After coldworking I sandblasted the piece before doing a fire polish. This was to refine the coldworking and remove some slight hazing on the feature. The fire polish resulted in a beautiful polished finish.
Hope this all makes sense and helps. Any questions please ask in the comments section on YouTube.
Full Fuse Firing Schedule
- #1 – 222 C (432 F) up to 535 C (995 F), hold 30 minutes
- #2 – 333 C (632 F) up to 670 C (1238 F), hold 30 minutes
- #3 – Full up to 800 C (1472 F), hold 5 minutes
- #4 – Full down to 482 C (900 F), hold 60 minutes
- #5 – 65 C ( 149 F) down to 425 C (797 F), no hold
- #6 – 132 C ( 270 F) down to 371 C (700 F), no hold
Fire Polish Firing Schedule
- #1 – 222 C (432 F) up to 535 C (995 F), hold 60 minutes
- #2 – 333 C (632 F) up to 720 C (1328 F), hold 30 minutes
- #3 – Full down to 482 C (900 F), hold 60 minutes
- #4 – 65 C ( 149 F) down to 425 C (797 F), no hold
- #5 – 132 C ( 270 F) down to 371 C (700 F), no hold
Slump Firing Schedule
- #1 – 167 C (333 F) up to 630 C (1166 F), hold 15 minutes
- #2 – Full down to 482 C (900 F), hold 60 minutes
- #3 – 65 C ( 149 F) down to 425 C (797 F), no hold
- #4 – 132 C ( 270 F) down to 371 C (700 F), no hold