Friday, January 11, 2008

The Saga of the Glass Eyeballs continues....

Here are the finished eyeballs. I don't need any sympathy here, I knew better. It is all a learning experience, so I will go over what I learned and what i can do different the next time. Of course, the pendants that are due in 3 weeks may end up being made out of something other than glass because I won't have my kiln available to me starting next week....
This photo shows how they turned out in general, and also the 2 that blobbed together. When I did my first fusingI had one layer of background glass and i topped it with a circle of white. At this time I should have added the dichroic crescents and it would then have melted into the yellow in one layer. Then when I capped them with clear, i might have avoided the huge and numerous bubbles. The yellow background glass I do not like. It turns a muddy yellow green with uneven browning on the edges. Yes, some of them do look like eyeliner, but some of them just look sloppy. I need to take pieces of all my glass and TEST them in the kiln to see if the color changes. Glass does that - what you see is NOT what you get. The white glass I used was just something I had. My original eyeball prototype used Wasser 90 COE precut circles. Although that glass also spread, it melted evenly and kept its shape. Notice how after 2 firings the whites of the eye are completely misshapen. Wasser white glass is also whiter, cleaner looking. These are sort of dullish white (like half cooked egg whites).

Here's a close up. I could have lived with the unintentional bubbles, but the distortion of the whites is totally unacceptable. They look really amature. (which I am!). Also, some of the dichroic I used left edge marks - easily solved by lightly beveling the edges when I was grinding them - (but didn't do). And lastly, it is important to grind down the first fused shape to a uniform shape that matches the glass cap. Live and learn.....

So I will start anew. These are SCRAP!

1 comment:

Joanne Huffman said...

When did you install the music?

I see possibilities for using the eyeballs in future projects (masks, dolls, faces, ets), but I think you're right about the whole being patient and making prototypes and keeping notes with the glass. I often have the same problems. I also am still trying to find the ideal glass and measurements over the piece to cap with.

Joanne