Coldworking and Fire Polishing

I'm getting closer to finishing this piece. Tonight I got back to the coldwork needed to finish the edge of the blue bowl. I ordered a couple of additional wet belts for my sander in various grits to help with the coldworking and those belts arrived last week.

Tonight I was able to go through a series of belts, from a 60 grit to 800 grit, and get the edge finished. I did a slight bevel on the top and bottom edge which should smooth even more during the fire polish.

The reason for fire polishing is to help round the glass edge a little more, smooth it and make it nice and glossy.

The finishing work went smoothly and much easier than my previous attempts. I think I'm becoming a coldworking believer. In the Kent Lauer, Faceted Dichroic Pendant class, Kent told me it wouldn't take much time at all to develop coldworking skills. Of course, being the Master Beveler that he is, he was right!

Tonight I'm completing the fire polish stage, so the edge will no longer have a mat appearance and should be glossy. I hope I'm happy with the results when I open the kiln tomorrow to check it.

After that, I will be ready to complete the final stage for this piece, the slumping into the bowl mold to complete the project. I learned a lot from this bowl and that seems to be the norm with any project I work on.

I will move on to the Hues of Nature piece next for the finishing work it needs.

During all of this, I've been revamping our studio website, along with my personal website. All this and a day job too! Art has captured my soul and I don't think I could live without being creative. Here's wishing all of you inspirations for your work too!

Facetted Dichroic Pendants

I'm posting a couple of pictures of the pendants that I created in the Kent Lauer class this past Sunday at D & L Stained Glass. Kent was an angel and corrected my initial efforts at shaping these. I think of them as his work and I could never part with them. My goal will be to create more, once I can afford to purchase the machinery necessary to create them. I find them to be absolutely stunning.

The process involves two layers of 1/4" think clear glass with dichroic glass sandwiched between them. The three layers are glued together, using a UV glue. Then the square is shaped, beveled if you will, to allow the beauty of the dichroic glass shine through the prisms created in the beveling process.

These two will be wire wrapped and I will post pictures when they are finished. That may be in another week or two due to my current schedule of events. Enjoy!