18 years old, 100s of Firings and Still going strong!

18 years old, 100s of Firings and Still going strong!

May I introduce you to one of my favorite Kaiser Lee Board Molds?

It is a 12″ x 12″ x 1″ (30 x 30 x 2.5 cm) Kaiser Lee Board with a 3″ x 3″ (7.5 x 7.5 cm)  hole in the center. I call it my kiln shelf with a hole.

The dish sits perfectly and I can use the wide rim for unusual designs. And yes, we fuse and slump in one firing.

This Ikebana Container was created by Helen at our BIG Arts Class on Sanibel. She used a piece of Wissmach Prisma 96 and created this impressive dish with it.

If you have this piece of KLB laying around and don’t know what to do with it, just cut a hole into it and start creating. Should you get tired of it – may be after 18 years – you can always cut another shape into the mold and use it again for 18 years.

And no, we did not cap the Wissmach Glass. It is just beautiful shiny after it is fired. I wish you could see the original.

Oh, and if you don’t have it around, we are still selling it, and so do all of our distributors.

Will you be coming to the Las Vegas Glass Craft Expo this year?

If you are no sure yet, which class you would like to take, have a look at Marcia Bernadette’s class. Yes, even so I will not be teaching a full class, I will have a short demo and lecture in each of her classes.

Use this link 

https://www.glasscraftexpo.com/class-list.php

and type Petra Kaiser in the search field and Marcias classes will open. 

The New Wissmach Kiln Catalog is Online

The New Wissmach Kiln Catalog is Online

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Yes, you can

purchase all Kiln Glass Colors here at the Fuse It Studio in Cape Coral at very good prices. Please make your personal shopping appointment via email or phone.  Online we sell frit, cullet and random glass pieces in the all in one boxes. The prices include shipping costs.

Over Sized Drape

Over Sized Drape

Do you have a tall kiln?

My kiln is 16″ high and 30″ x 42″ so it is not a problem to fit in a 23″ x 23″ square for the first firing and then set it on our tall Kaiser Lee Board Triangles to drape fire it. The triangles are only 11″ high but by placing them on a 2″ KLB square piece, I ended up with a 13″ igh drape mold. Even so the kiln is higher, my coils are hanging 1″ from the top and I like to be away with the glass at least 2″.

20 Years of Fusing and my Heart Rate Still Goes UP!

There is always a risk when I drape something, especially when I can’t observe it during the process stage. But I guess that’s what makes glass fusing so interesting. By the way, this was a piece one of my students made during a private workshop, so it better turns out – right?

Octopus Bowl

Octopus Bowl

This kiln formed bowl has hardly touched any mold materials. The Wissmach 96 glass worked perfectly during the 2 full fuse and 1 kiln form  firing. Since I can not show this glass art well enough in a single image, I decided to make this short video with several images of the same art work. If you can’t see the video below, then this link will bring you to our YouTube Channel

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And Now?

And Now?

And Now?

All I wanted to do is to stretch some glass to make glass shards. Yes those very little thin sharp glass pieces. This is at least my 5th trial and each time the kiln and the glass have a mind of their own.

And Now … I have another good for nothing but fascinating piece that I don’t want to smash into charts.

Happy Fusing!

A Creative Time at the Fuse It Studio

A Creative Time at the Fuse It Studio

Last week Lindsey and Chase booked a private session to create their “Love Lamp” with my help and a few minor design suggestions. Both never had made anything in kiln formed glass before, but like to share their creativity with each other.

They definitely wanted to keep the luminescent shine on the Wissmach dark blue glass and the black clear Wissmach Prisma glass. In the first firing I took the kiln up to 1410° F with a 12 minute hold time. The Papyros Paper™ protected the luminescetn coating nicely without leaving a trace behind.

My next concern was the drape firing. I placed the pre-fused rectangle without the Papyros Paper™ cover on a 6″ high stack of Kaiser Lee Board to bend one side down in a 90° angle.

This time I fired the kiln to 1180°F and hold  10 minutes using the smape pieces of Papyros Paper™ a second time to cover the luminescent glass with great success as you can see in the image below.