Window (Float) Glass Snowflakes Tutorial

Materials:

Double strength float glass

Snowflake Patterns (Click to download PDF) Snowflakepatternsfiles

Glass Glue of your choice

Step 1: Glass Prep

Clean and cut float glass into a variety of strips, triangles, diamonds and squares. I usually set aside a bit of time for cutting and cut the entire sheet before I start building snowflakes. It’s important that this glass be double strength (3.2mm) thick glass rather than picture frame or single strength glass. It is also important to use glass from the same sheet to prevent incompatibility issues.

Step 2. Build the snowflakes

Although you can make any design of your own with the glass strips, I suggest building the first one with a pattern, just to practice the stacking and overlap. The glass pieces will need to overlap by at least 1/4″ to fuse together without gaps. In cases where the glass butts together, you must have a piece over the joint.

Step 3: Fuse

Allow glue to dry completely to hold the flake together, and then slide the snowflake off of the paper onto the kiln shelf.

Repeat as desired, and make sure to make some of your own designs too! When the kiln is full, fire to a full fuse.

This is a fun activity to do with friends, or at a family gathering as a holiday keepsake for the year.

Tips and Trouble Shooting:

If the gap is too small to slide pieces together, you’ll need to widen it with either a diamond file or a diamond bit on a dremel tool. Use plenty of water and wear a mask.
Make sure the feet are level, if your vase isn’t balancing, you may need to grind the feet larger and flatter
If your fiber paper doesn’t come out cleanly, add water and dig it out with a skewer or hooked wire.
Yes, the vase can hold water

← Previous Next →

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...

Bottle Glass Fish Sun Charm

What’s a Sun Charm? A little something that’s more than a sun catcher, but not quite a wind chime. I was in the mood to do some fusing and also use up a bunch of my jewelry making stash, so here we go! Materials: Fused Bottle Glass Fish Jump Rings Split Rings...

Lentil Bead Molds – Instructions

Lentil Bead Molds – Instructions Materials needed: Lentil Bead Mold (any size, or ALL the sizes for extra fun) Kiln Wash Glass frit Step 1. Prepare the mandrels. Each bead kit ships with a dozen mandrels and a tube of bead release, so you’re all set to go when your...