How Fire Polishing Fused Glass
Results In A Smooth Finish

Fire polishing is used to round and polish the edges of a piece of fusing glass that has been "cold worked" by grinding, drilling or sawing.

The fused glass piece is heated and held at the selected temperature until the edges are nicely rounded with a shiny finish.

The following is an example of polishing small pieces of COE 90 fused dichroic glass.

Bullseye glass was used as the base for the different dichroic styles.

After fusing the glass was cut with a glass cutter and then ground on a grinder to achieve the final shape.

If the glass is not kept wet it is very difficult to remove the grit which will leave dark lines when it is heated in the kiln.

Clean with a nail brush and soapy water and then dry carefully.

Upon completion the glass is placed on shelf paper on a kiln shelf and then loaded into a tabletop glass kiln.

The temp is gradually lifted to around 1000 F with the kiln lid slightly open. After the shelf paper binders are burnt off the lid is closed and the temperature taken to between 1300 and 1400 degrees and held for about twenty minutes.

The pieces are checked during this time and if the edges have become nicely rounded the kiln is switched off and allowed to cool to room temperature

As can seen from the photo the glass is nicely rounded and polished. They are ready to be finished as fused dichroic glass pendants

This temperature closeness can result in the slumped item losing its shape. By carefully watching the process and polishing at a lower temperature it is sometimes possible to achieve a result.

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