Most glass artists are familiar with fusing on molds to give glass texture, and with kiln carving to give glass a pattern. But, did you know you can combine the two? It’s easier than you think.
Start with a mold, we’re using a Man in the Moon bottle bottom mold, and a Rocket bottle bottom mold.
Man in the moon mold and fiber paper
Rocket mold with fiber paper
Both of the molds are kiln washed. I’ve cut out small stars and a tiny moon from 1/32″ fiber paper.
Moon mold with stars
Rocket Mold with stars
Now add bottle bottoms.
Rocket Mold with glass
Man in the Moon mold with glass
And fire to a full fuse using the Full Fuse for 1/4″ glass schedule.
Fused bottle bottom molds with kiln carving
Fused bottle bottom molds
Just for fun I decided to add some metallic mica to the designs. For the mica to stick, you need to give the glass some texture, which I’m going to do with etching cream.
Etching cream and fused bottle bottoms
Follow the instructions on the bottle, it’s pretty easy. I’ve painted the cream on the raised design, as well as the kiln carved part.
Fused bottle bottoms with etching cream
After the pieces are etched and washed, I’m going to paint gold and silver mica onto the etched areas.
Mica and etched fused bottle bottoms
mica on fused bottle bottoms
Now fire them again using the Slump firing schedule. After firing, some of the mica will wash off. Using mica this way gives you more of a watercolor wash effect rather than a painted effect.
Fused bottle bottoms with mica