Fused Window Glass Heart Puzzle Vase

Puzzle vases are multiple part projects that slot together after fusing to create a 3 dimensional design.  I love them because not only are they a fusing challenge, they are an engineering challenge.  The finished art is a little mesmerizing, how does it work??  It’s actually not too hard, here’s a little tutorial to get you started.  Once you have the central concept, the cross pieces and correct size center gap, you can easily change up the shape of the vase pieces fo create any type of design. Ready?  Let’s do this thing:

Materials:

4mm window glass (double strength)

Glass cutting tools:

glass cutter

running pliers

grozier pliers

stained glass grinder

glue

1/8″ fiber felt or paper

82 CoE frits, I used Cherry Red and Dense White [a note about frits, these are not strictly necessary, the vase is quite striking in clear, so don’t let this hold you up]

Heart Puzzle Vase Pattern PDF

Step 1 – Creating the vase shapes

The vase is two separate layers that slot together, each layer is a heart, so we need 8 heart pieces to assemble.

Step 2 – Assemble the clear base 

This step is assembling the framework that will make the vase into a puzzle.  We’re going to make a gap between the heart halves and add cross pieces to each half.

Step 3 – Add the ‘vase’ 

This next step is all about deciding the size of our fused in vase cavities and adding fiber felt (thick fiber paper) to the halves.  I’m using 1/8″ because that’s what I have on hand, but I’d like the spaces to be 1/4″ deep, so I’m stacking two layers of the fiber.  Please remember to wear your mask during this part because the fiber in fiber paper is not great for your lungs.

Step 4 – Adding color frits and assembling project for fusing (optional but fun)

In this step we are adding color 82 CoE frits (made for window glass) to the top layer of our vase.  We will be keeping our mask firmly on our faces for this step because we are wise and want to avoid silicosis so we can fuse another day!

Step 5 – Assembling all the parts and fusing

This step is relatively straightforward, we’re going to put it all together and fire to a contour fuse.

Contour fuse firing schedule for this project (temps in F) or use a contour fuse schedule of your own:

Step 6 – Finishing it up

After your kiln is done firing, there’s just a couple of small things to do to really finish up.