How to make sharp lines

[lorwolff]

I am trying to get sharp lines of black on white, and topped with clear.
I would like to keep the black from bleeding.
I made two black and white pieces and tacked fused up to 1375d.
Then I put a piece of clear on top of one and tried for a long slow full fuse with, what I thought was a 1 hour bubble squeeze, and ended up with a huge bubble anyhow.
Full fuse sched;
200 dph to 1225 1 hour hold
400 dph to 1490 10 min hold
9999 to 960 1:30 hold
100 to 700 5 min
off
I guess I really don't know what I am doing.
In the picture there is an un-topped tack fused piece standing upright behind the topped piece.
Any advice would be appreciated.

[lorwolff]

Forgot to mention I am using Bullseye glass.

[JestersBaubles]

Why not stop with the tack fuse if it is the result you are aiming for?

If you fire the piece "face down" and then flip over and fire polish on a second firing, you'll have better luck.

Dana W.

[lorwolff]

It needs to be flat.
If I refire the piece I tack fused I am assuming the black will spread and not keep the straight lines.
Maybe I need to piece together clear pieces atop the black and white 3D piece?

[lorimendenhall]

what if you put a clear layer on the bottom (in order to get the two required layers) and then use thinner glass for the black? then it would not spread out as much.

[lorwolff]

I can put designs on top of 2 complete layers, but I expected that top design layer would also spread.?.

[Valerie Adams]

I'd use thin black for my design, and place it directly on the shelf. Then a layer of 3mm white and then a layer of 3mm clear. Fire, flip, and fire polish.

[Mike Jordan]

It looks like this is going to be prone to create bubbles no matter what you do, since edges are going to seal around all that air space you have because of the black pieces. A couple of things I can think to try if I was doing this (and I'm no expert at all) is instead of a solid clear cap, use strips of clear glass instead, which might leave enough space for the air to escape. Or, what I've used in the past is the extra large clear chunks of frit that Bullseye sales. I've found that the extra large chunks come out surprisingly clear after they have fused together and spread. You may still have flip and fire to smooth it out though.

Mike

[Valerie Adams]

It looks like this is going to be prone to create bubbles no matter what you do, since edges are going to seal around all that air space you have because of the black pieces. A couple of things I can think to try if I was doing this (and I'm no expert at all) is instead of a solid clear cap, use strips of clear glass instead, which might leave enough space for the air to escape. Or, what I've used in the past is the extra large clear chunks of frit that Bullseye sales. I've found that the extra large chunks come out surprisingly clear after they have fused together and spread. You may still have flip and fire to smooth it out though.

Mike

She won't get bubbles if her design is face down on the shelf. The two 3mm layers will be sufficient weight to flow around the thin black elements. I've done this plenty of times.

[lorwolff]

Thanks you all, I guess there is no way around the fuse, flip and fuse again.
I don't have any thin black, so I will try this with stringers for a design, and see what happens. I have some 1mm black, maybe I can get what I want with them. It will be an interesting experiment.
Loraine