found metal for inclusion

[JoanG]

I am making a fused glass mezzuah as a wedding gift. the glass is recycled from part of the wedding ceremony so i can't really experiment too much. on the day of the wedding i found a heart shaped piece of metal and would like to include it. I have NO idea what type of metal it is. i'm not sure if there is any way i can include this piece of metal into the mezzuah or not? any ideas would be appreciated. i guess, worst case, I can use e6000 glue to add the metal on at the end but would love to try to incorporate it...thanks for any ideas!

[Morganica]

Depends on how thick it is (and what kind of metal). Generally, anything thicker than heavy-duty aluminum foil is liable to crack the glass while it heats (expands) and cools (contracts).

One thing you could do is "kilncarve" a depression in the glass that would exactly fit your metal so it looks embedded instead of glued on. Get a piece of fiber paper just slightly thicker than your metal, trace the shape of the heart on it and cut to the outside of that tracing. You'll wind up with a fiber paper heart that's very slightly larger than the original. Set the glass face-down on the fiberpaper, where you want the shelf, and fuse. If you need that side to be shiny, you can sand it down, flip it over and firepolish to bring back the gloss. Then glue in your heart in the cold glass.

[lorimendenhall]

hey that's a good idea, to make an impression so when you glue it in later it's flush.