Fused Glass

Transferable Skills (what will this do for me even if I don’t become a glass artist?) – Develop a unique visual language – Strengthen conceptual development of ideas – Apply art design principles – Creativity – Critical Thinking – Problem Solving – Resiliency and Persistence

A Brief History of Glass and Glass Art Like so much in modern society, glass and glass art has benefited from advancements in technology. Glass was most likely discovered accidentally when sand (silica) melted and fused in cooking fires. However, archeologists have established that humans were purposefully making glass objects for utilitarian and adornment purposes for thousands of years with ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, followed by Rome, being centers for advancement of the art. Opening a bowl with "jacks" Rudimentary glassblowing, a major advancement, was first developed in Jerusalem in the first century BCE. This new technique quickly spread throughout the Roman Empire. Other glass art techniques, such as stained glass, casting, fusing, and mosaic, continued to develop (for example, stained glass rose to prominence in the cathedrals of Europe during the Middle Ages; 5th to 16th centuries CE). However, it was glassblowing that came to dominate. What is now Murano, Italy, quickly became a center for glass art and, even though there are now more glass artists working in Seattle than in Murano, it is that Venetian island that is still held to be the birthplace and center of modern glass art.

Kiln-Formed Glass Art Glass designs ready for fusing inside a kiln. The kiln-formed technique can involve one or more of a number of different processes (fusing, slumping, bending, draping, and sagging) all performed using the heat of a kiln. Artists using this technique create a pattern, picture, or design by fitting together and/or stacking colored pieces of glass sheets, stringers (thin rods), and/or frits or powders (ground glass). The resulting assemblage is then placed in a kiln and fired at sufficient heat to cause it to fuse (melt together) and form a single piece. Firing temperatures range from 1100 to1550 Fahrenheit. Firing at the high end of the range is called a "full fuse." Firing in the middle range is known as "tack fusing"; the pieces of glass adhere to each other but do not fully melt together. Firing at the lower end of the temperature range is where the glass is shaped. It can be bent, draped, sagged, or slumped using a mold. All of these techniques can be applied to a single piece of glass art in separate firings to add depth, relief and shape. Fusing glass fell out of favor following the advent of glassblowing in the first century BCE. It began to revive in the early 20th century but it was not until the 1960's when glass manufacturers gained the ability to consistently produce compatible glass in a rich palette of colors that this glass art form saw a true renaissance.

Cold-Process Glass Art Laying out a glass mosaic design. Glass is often thought of as requiring heat to shape. Heat may have been required to produce the glass but cold-process glass art is created without the need for furnace, kiln, or torch. Glass can be painted, printed, laminated, etched, engraved, sandblasted, cut, polished, glued and assembled to create unique art pieces. Glass can also be a component in mixed media pieces with other materials. Stained glass and mosaic art have been produced for thousands of years and are still sought after forms of art today. Stained glass flourished in the Middle Ages with the assembling of glass pieces using lead seams to decorate the windows of many European cathedrals and Tiffany lamps dating to the 19th century are world- renowned. Mosaic glass art involves assembling pieces of glass into a picture, abstract, or "painting" on an adhesive background. Today examples of early Middle Eastern, Greek, and Roman glass mosaics are prevalent in the remains of public buildings.

Compatibility of glass refers to the rate of expansion and contraction as the glass is heated and cooled. Annealing, or controlled cooling, of the glass is critical. Work can crack or break in the kiln (or even months after coming out of the kiln) if it is not properly cooled. Annealing times of one to two months, or more, are not unusual in very large pieces. Functional and decorative glass can be produced commercially by machine, but it takes the hands and the heart and the practiced skill of the artist to produce something truly beautiful and unique. It is from that quality and uniqueness that the value of Handmade Glass Art found on this website derives. No two pieces are ever exactly alike.