A couple few weeks ago I found a neat place in North Portland: Aquila Glass School. It's a small studio that lets people work on glass fusing and torchwork. They also teach classes so Kate and I signed up for a glass fusing class where you make a couple of dishes and some pendants and you get to keep what you make.
Making some glass pendants
Glass fusing is a technique where you cut layers of glass (usually colored) and then place them in a kiln and heat them up to the point that the melt together or 'fuse'. Depending on how hot you fire it you can get a final product that is just barely stuck together or that has fused and run together into a solid shape. After the first firing you can go on do something called slump molding where you place a piece over a shallow mould that the glass sinks—or 'slumps'— into once it heats up enough.
I have never worked with glass before so this was a lot of fun. Now that I've taken the class (and singed some paperwork) I can go back at any time with my own glass and make whatever I want!
The Finished Pieces:
Finished pendants.
Finished Plate
Finished Dish
