Sometimes it’s nice to add a little something extra to your float or bottle fusing project, here’s a handy list of product that I’ve used over the years, the suppliers that I purchased them from, and a tutorial or two to get you started.
- Paint – Glassline and Hues 2 Fuse and Unique Glass Colors
- Buy from: Delphi Glass
- Tips: These are kind of expensive and require a little practice to get an even coat. Good for detailed painting work.
- Tutorials: Tie-Dye Fused Bottles, Glassline Paint on Bottles, Painted Hummingbird Plate
- Mica and/or Carefree Lusters- both as powder and mixed in medium
- Buy from: Thompson Enamel, Kaiser Glass
- Tips: I use hairspray as a medium, Barry Kaiser’s Mica Medium comes highly recommended. Mica works best either capped or on textured glass surfaces
- Tutorials: Gecko with Mica, Recycled Glass with Mica, Triangle Beads with Mica
- Glow Powder
- Buy from: Sundance Art Glass
- Tips: Works best capped, works with all glass CoE. Can be expensive, but a little goes a long way, I like the sample pack
- Tutorials: Glow Rocket
- Float Fire – multi color frit with flexible CoE that works with bottles and float glass
Cherry Red Float Fire
- Buy from: Armstrong Glass
- Tips: This is an incredibly useful product, works great for stamping, stenciling, adding texture
- Tutorials: Adding color and texture to float, Flaming Heart Windchime,
- Enamels – powders and Frits
- Buy from: Thompson Enamels
- Tips: Try the sample pack, lots of colors for not much money
- Tutorials: Coming soon, but in the mean time here’s a photo of the sample pack color charts I made
- Copper wire, sheet
Tracings on copper and brass sheet
- Buy from: Dick Blick, hardware stores, craft stores
- Tips: discarded electrical wire and cords are a good source of different sized wire, you will have to cut off the plastic covering though.
- Tutorials: Metal inclusions in recycled glass, Fused hummingbird with metal
- brass wire and sheet
- Buy from: Dick Blick, hardware stores, craft stores
- Tips: make sure you get solid brass, often steel is brass coated, and it doesn’t work out when fused.
- Tutorials: (same as copper) Metal inclusions in recycled glass, Fused hummingbird with metals
- liquid gold, paladium and Mother of Pearl lusters
- Buy from: Glaser Ceramics
- Tips: these are low fire lusters, put them on very last and fire to the recommended temperature to bring out the metallic color
- Tutorials: none yet, but stay tuned!
- organic materials – sand, dirt, leaves
- Buy from: your own yard
- Tips: filter dirt and be prepared for long holds at about 1100 to burn out organics
- Tutorials: Fusing dirt and sand, Fusing with leaves and color
- plaster
Recycled window glass turtle plate
- Buy from: any craft store
- Tips: useful for making inclusions and cast in patterns in glass, fondant molds from the cake decorating section are excellent for this
- Tutorials: Plaster inclusions in recycled glass, Recycled bottle glass trinket boxes (the lids have plaster inclusions)
- Dichro slide
- Buy from: Delphi Glass
- Tips: If you’ve never used this before, the sample pack is a good idea, lots of colors to play with for not a lot of money
- Tutorials: Coming soon!
- Water slide Decals
- Buy from: Delphi Glass
- Tips: Be prepared, these can be very thin and tear easily as you move them onto the glass. Work slowly and carefully.
- Tutorials: Working on it.
