Dichroic Fused Glass 'Flower' Pendant How-to

I'm still not well enough to get out and about...or get back to the glass fusing. Despite the emails i've recieved since my last blog...I do not have man-flu! .. and when I did I can honestly say without over dramatising that it was a million times worse than a cold, honest...*sniffs*.



Anyway, since I can't go out I've decided to do another tutorial. This time a simple dichroic glass flower pendant. These will soon be available on my website with my other dichroic glass pendants. Don't forget that i'm having new year sale on my ebay site too!

Anyways.. To start off we need to make 6 small cabs for the centre of the flower and the five petals. I tend to use cm's when cutting to size so I cut 6, 1cm square pieces of dichroic glass. I use 2mm fusing glass so to give each cab a nice rounded look I add 2 layers of clear fusing glass on top of it...again 1cm square.

Because i'm adding 2 layers of clear on top I don't really need to add the 2mm overlap I'd need if I was making a larger item. The dichroic shouldn't seep out. Also...If I was making a finished cab for mounting etc, I'd add another layer of clear to give it a bit more depth. Because this is going to be refired it's best to keep it relatively small. Fire to a full fuse.

Here's the fired cabs. Although you can't tell from the pic, there's 2 pink and one silver, all the same size.

The next thing to do is assemble the piece together on the kiln shelf. The cabs should be of the same size to prevent the glass becoming lob-sided whilst firing and care should be given to make sure the outside cabs are evenly parted and are touching the central cab. If the outside cabs are too close to each other they'll fuse together. They must touch the central one also otherwise they'll fuse separately. I don't use glue. Just say a little prayer and don't get shakey as you put them into the kiln and i'm sure they'll come out right.Refire to a full fuse.

Here's a few of the finished pieces. I made a few. Remember if you want a smaller pendant you need to scale the sizing down evenly- ie, the larger flower pendant is made from 1cm square cabs, the smaller from 1/2 cm cabs. If you're really clever you can do even smaller ones for earrings...too be honest I lack the patience at the moment because of my man flu....erm virus, whatever!

I'm sure I've left glaring holes in my howto's but feel free to let me know if I have!

On my next post i'll put together some golden rules for glass fusing so check back.

...on a completely different note. I got a mention on another website...http://craftgossip.com/. And here's the link...http://jewelrymaking.craftgossip.com/dichroic-beginner-tutorial/2008/01/04/

This is a really great resource for any crafter so check it out...I spent way too much time on it today in between doses of antivirals. *coughs*.

Another great link for crafters is www.craftcast.com . It has a weekly podcast on crafting...probably the best i've come across and it's great for picking up info...it's kind of like Oprah but with glue and sticky-back plastic. Enjoy!

TTFN