Fused Cast Glass Pendant
Made With Glass Frit

Small pieces of clear glass are used to line the bottom of the mold, coarse frit is laid over the clear glass.The colored frit powder is sprinkled over the white frit.

The fused cast glass pendant can be made from Bullseye or System 96 fusing glass.

There are a number of ways to make the small clear pieces you will need. You can cut them with a glass cutter, break them off with grozing pliers or use wheeled glass nippers.

I find it is easier to use wheeled glass nippers as you can nip the pieces in half very quickly if you need to.

Safety glasses must be worn when cutting the glass pieces. If you are using mosaic nippers cut along the edge of the glass so that you can control the size of the glass pieces. Try to hold your hand around the glass so that the cut pieces fall into your hand.

If you have a pair of safety gloves wear one on the hand catching the glass, many nipped pieces will have needle sharp ends. Use tweezers when placing pieces into mold.

On a general note wheeled glass nippers are a very handy tool to have in your tool kit, glass rods can be nipped to length, pieces easily cut from glass edges, glass strips can be quickly cut into pieces, these are just a few of the jobs these nippers will do.

Wash and dry the scrap glass before cutting, as it is very difficult to clean the cut pieces. Try not to hold the glass in the areas that you are cutting.

For this project you will need the following:

Wheeled mosaic nippers or grozing pliers.

Glass cutter.

Fusing mold.

Kiln Wash.

Glass fusing kiln.

Proceed as follows:

Step 1. Apply kiln wash to fusing mold.

Step 2. Cut glass into pieces.

Step 3. Place clear glass into bottom of dry mold.

Step 4. Put pieces of coarse white frit over bottom layer.

Step 5. Build glass up slightly towards the center to help counter shrinkage. This happens because the glass tends to compact down into the mold and may end up two thirds of its original thickness. Generally the smaller the pieces the less they will compact.

Sprinkle colored powder over the coarse frit.

300 F (150 C)/hour up to 1480 F (804 C).

Hold 30 minutes.

Check to ensure that glass is fully fused. If the glass is not completely smooth you may need to refire until it is smooth and level.

If glass fusing is complete turn off glass kiln.

Allow to cool to room temperature and then remove.

Clean completely and place back in kiln, fire polish to remove abrasive marks. Do not place back in mold as the marks may not be removed if they are covered by the mold.

Use prepared kiln shelf for this process, monitor closely as the glass will spread if the pendant is over heated.

Once completed you should have an original piece of glass art .

Adding more or less powder will change the marbling effect.