Think Crafts Blog - Craft Ideas and Projects - CreateForLess

I’ve been fusing glass for about 5 years now and it’s a craft that is always fascinating. Glass fusing is basically layering several pieces of glass with the same COE and then fusing the pieces together in a kiln or heat source.  The layers of glass create a new single piece of glass.  You can then go on to slump the fused glass using a mold to create bowls, plates, and all kinds of art.

The process is time consuming.  You must create a design or use a pattern.  You need to cut the pieces of glass.  Clean all the pieces to remove any oils or dust.  You then layer your pieces onto a kiln shelf (that is either prepared with kiln wash to prevent sticking or with a piece of shelf paper). You then must fire or bake the glass in a kiln for a timed process.  You can’t just super heat glass because it will shatter so you slowly ramp up the heat in the kiln until the glass melts and then slowly ramp the heat down.  There are schedules prepared by the manufacturers of the glass to help you time the firing.  Once fired, the glass must cool before you can continue.  Fused pieces can take several hours or several days to create. The end result is worth it!

Diamond Tech has created a product kit that turns glass fusing into a very do-able, easy to understand process with its Fuseworks Beginner’s Fusing Kit.  Imagine fusing glass in your microwave in minutes! I have to be very honest, I couldn’t believe fusing could be done so quickly, but all my doubts were gone after my first fusing with the kit and its mini Fuseworks Microwave Kiln!!!

You get a ton of stuff in the kit: an assortment of 90 COE glass, Dichroic bits and pieces (beautiful patterned glass), millefiori glass (small discs that have patterns like flowers and such), confetti glass (thin shards of glass), kiln paper, glass cutter, hot mitts, and jewelry findings (earring sets and bails), plus very well written instructions.  You can make many fused jewelry pieces with the supplies included in the kit.

And it really is as easy as cutting your glass, laying down the kiln paper, stacking your glass, putting the top on the kiln, placing the kiln in your microwave and microwaving for a few minutes!!!  I was thrilled with my pieces and I didn’t have to fire up my kiln… all I needed was my microwave. Your piece is even annealed during the 40-50 minute cool down.

A few words to know when fusing:

Anneal: this is a process where the glass becomes its strongest, all glass pieces should be annealed or there is a good chance of the glass cracking over time.

COE: Coeffcient of Expansion, this is usually given to you as a number: 90 COE, 104 COE.  All glass has a COE number and you can only fuse glass pieces that have the same COE number.  In other words you can’t mix a piece of glass with a 90 COE with a piece of glass with a 104 COE.  Manufacturers will give you the COE of their glass.

Dichroic Glass: A glass with multiple micro-layers of metal oxides which give the glass optical properties.

Dichroic glass shimmers when fused.

Millefiori: A glass work technique where rods of patterned glass are formed and then cut into small discs.

Many discs of millfiori are fused to create this pendant.

Check out my next blog when guest blogger Jeanne Baruth goes into detail about using this new Fuseworks Microwave Kiln!

I Love this book!

100 Beaded Jewelry Designs by Stephanie Burnham

This book is perfect for the beginner and the more advanced jewelry crafter.  The instructions are excellent and you get a lot of photographs.  The book also includes color illustrations to help with the beading.  The designers used very modern and stylish looks for the jewelry included in the book.  You’ll enjoy making the necklaces, bracelets, and earrings sets. Techniques include peyote, ladder, brick, netting, square, herringbone, and right angle stitches with some great edging. I highly recommend this book because there isn’t a piece of jewelry in it that I don’t want to make! 

My favorite project was the Layered Spiral Necklace as seen below.

Would You Like To Win This Book? 

Be the first person to e-mail me at Maria@thinkcrafts.com and this book will be yours.  Make sure you put the name of the book you want to win in the subject line of your e-mail to me. I will reply back to the first e-mailer requesting a mailing address.  Please don’t post any personal information on Think Crafts!

Air dry clay is often thought of as a child’s art and craft supply, but it’s so much more than that!  If you enjoy polymer clay, you’ll also enjoy paper clay.  You don’t have to bake this type of clay as it air dries. 

Materials

• Paper clay (also called air-dry clay):  This clay air-dries, no need to heat or bake.
• Rolling pin:  To evenly flatten clay if necessary for your project.
• Wax or freezer paper
• Rubberstamps, clay tools, molds or texture sheets:  To make patterns or images into the clay.
• Craft knife, NuBlade^TM, tissue blade (or other thin cutting tool).

Step by Step

1. Wash your hands thoroughly and make sure your work surface is clean.  Clay picks up every dust or particle on the work surface and your hands.

2. Roll clay out to about ¼” thickness or thickness desired.  Stamp an image into the clay with a rubberstamp or press clay into any type of mold and remove.  Trim with cutting tool if needed.  You can also hand form or sculpt the clay.

3. Place on wax paper to dry, turning every few hours for even drying.  To avoid curling you might want to weigh down the clay after a few hours of drying.

4. You can also use this clay to sculpt.  It easily can be colored, painted, inked, chalked, glittered, and otherwise embellished. 

Using an air dry clay, Helen Bradley created this watch for Jewlery Creations #2 Magazine (CK Media) using a clay from AMACO.

Tips

• Clay adheres to most surfaces with a dab or two of glue.
• You can cut this clay while still wet or when it has dried. 
• Use a wet fingertip to smooth rough edges while clay is still wet.
• Use a fine sanding paper or emery board to smooth clay edges once clay has dried.
• You can paint, ink, or chalk a dry piece of paper clay.
• You can add paint, ink, or chalk to wet clay to color it!
• Make an embellishment for the front of a scrapbook, diary or journal.
• Another wonderful way to use your rubberstamps.  You can make buttons to coordinate your designs and projects.
• Store unused clay in an airtight container like a zip-lock plastic bag.  You can’t add water to clay to restore, once it dries out, it’s not re-useable!
• There are wonderful cutting, shaping, and design tools on the market for clays, but don’t forget that toothpicks, paper clips, cookie cutters, and pencils are handy tools too.

I found some great sites with fun projects:

Colorful Fun

Earthy Heart Pendant

Upscale Designer

Another wonderful design by Helen Bradley for AMACO. This design was also published in Jewelry Creations #2, CK Media.

I must have a ton of beads!  I’m hopelessly addicted to beads.  I buy for color; I love orange.  I buy for shape; I love tablet, oval, and round.  I buy for motif; I love fish, sealife, and flowers.  I have small beads like seed and E beads.  I have medium beads of shell, ceramic, and glass.  And I have large beads of clay, crystal, and wood.  And with so many beads, it’s easy to forget exactly what I have.

I recently just re-organized my beads because I couldn’t remember everything I had.  Because if you have beads, you most likely have all the supplies needed to make jewelry, meaning you need to keep up with all your findings!  For me the real key to organization is that the organizers need to be clear, I need to be able to see at a glance what is in my organizers!

Organization can be a bore, but somehow I’m never bored when organizing my beads.  I enjoy seeing all my treasures, touching each to feel the texture, and coordinating the colors.  I get happy all over again and think about all the jewelry I can make.  I organize first by type of bead, which usually boils down to size. And then I organize by color or metal.  It’s important that you follow your way of thinking when you organize.  If your first thought is color, then organize by color. If your first thought is that’s a glass bead, organize by material used to make the beads.

 I love the above organizer!  I like the sturdy, permanant compartments and that it shuts very securely. I’ve used organizers with adjustable compartments, but most aren’t stable so your beads end up mixing.  Adjustable organizers are better for larger items or maybe threads.

I have tons of seed beads and hated having to store them in original packages, it just made organization difficult so I was happy to find this type of organizer so I can store my seed beads by color and easily find the color I need!

How do you organize your craft supplies?  Come on!  Share!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

I’m hopelessly addicted to needlepunch or punchneedle (I’m not really sure which term to use!). I don’t always have time to make a project from a kit or punch a complex design so I came up with an easy way to get my needlepunch dose without having to concentrate too hard!

I use needlepunch as a background for jewelry pendants!  I use miniature frames and variegated floss; I’ll needlepunch the frame shape (measure the inside area of the frame) as a background.  Once done, I apply fray stop around the edge of the design, apply to the back of the design (remember when doing needlepunch you are working the back of the design). Once the fray stop has dried, I cut out the background. The fray stopping adhesive keeps the raw ends of the floss from unraveling.  I add a cute button, bead, or charm to the background. If needed I mat the design onto light cardboard and insert into the frame. 

The photo above shows an example of a pendant set done with a fish, turtle, and seahorse bead!  Ocean and sea life are my favorite themes for needlepunch and many of my crafting projects.