Making Art Glass Jewelry At
Home In A Glass Fusing Kiln
Ideas for art glass jewelry and other glass fusing items that can easily be made at home using a glass fusing kiln and readily obtainable glass art tools.Fused glass jewelry has increased in popularity over recent years, glass fusing supplies, tools and classes have rapidly grown as more people have become aware of the beauty of fused glass art. For many years I have purchased my supplies from Delphi Glass, I have found them to be very helpful and reliable. Delphi have an extremely large range of jewelry and glass fusing supplies aswell as art and craft publications. Online videos and information are freely available. 
The Delphi site is well worth a visit if only to check out the jewelry ideas as well as free product information. Glass fusing is done in an electric Glass Fusing Kiln where pieces of glass are heated until they soften & fuse together as one piece. Using a special microwave kiln small scale art glass jewelry fusing can be done in the home microwave. Fusing glass is first cut to shape and arranged inside the glass fusing kiln, the fusing temperature is then set & the glass pieces will fuse together as the kiln goes through its fusing & cooling cycle. Glass can be simply fused side by side or stacked and fused or fused in other ways. Various glass fusing molds can also be used to produce lovely finished pieces. To be able to fuse together and manipulate colored pieces of fusing glass in an electric kiln to your own design is very satisfying. There’s nothing like the excitement and sense of achievement of removing your first pieces from the kiln. You can produce art glass pendants, fused glass earrings, cuff bracelets, glass beads & many other fused glass jewelry items. For examples of fused glass jewelry please visit Glass Jewelry where you will find a wide range of fused glass jewelry, as well as various forms of art glass work.
Glass Fusing Supplies
Fusible glass is available from a number of makers in a large range of colors, textures and styles, it is also available as colored stringers, rods, shards and various grades of crushed glass known as frit.The large range of glass supplies available allows you to mix and match colors and styles to your hearts content. Differences exist between glass from some makers; this means that some glasses cannot be fused together. See Glass Fusing Differences for important information on glass compatibility. Special glass enamels, paints and decals designed for glass fusing are also used to produce stylish and unique pieces. Many artists like to paint on glass & then fire their creations in a kiln to produce stunning results. Some artists like to include metal pieces in their designs. Copper, silver, sterling silver, gold, bronze & palladium are just some of the metals used. Each metal will react differently under heat & produce various colors when fused into glass resulting in lovely finished products. Glass Kiln Safety in the home. For your safety and the safety of others please ensure you follow all safe working methods and safety equipment usage when engaged in all aspects of the glass fusing process.
Dichroic Glass
One of the more recent materials is Dichroic Glass which is used in many handcrafted dichroic jewelry pieces as well as in glass beads. The glass has vivid colors which change hues when viewed from different angles. Dichroic glass is coated with a number of metallic materials which result in a glass than when heated in a kiln produces brilliant & vivid colors. Because the glass heats and cools at a different rate to the metallic coating no two pieces are the same resulting in unique fused dichroic jewelry items. Dichroic glass jewelry is extremely popular because of its intense colors and is used for making fused glass earrings, bracelets, beads, cabochons, rings, hair clips and pendants.
Starting Out
Please visit our Glass Fusing Basics page for information on various glass fusing techniques. Glass classes are available in many glass studios; art glass fusing books & dvd’s are also available to help you get started. There are many excellent glass supply stores on the net. For a bulletin board full of great information on glass art fusing visit the
Warm Glass Site.
If you decide to take up art glass jewelry, which I hope you do, you will not be limited to only art glass jewelry, plates, coasters, bowls, Christmas ornaments are just a few of the objects that can be made in a glass kiln. I’ll show you the tools and basic equipment you will need to get started making handmade fused glass jewelry as well as some fun glass fusing projects for you.
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