Some Recent Work To Say Thanks

[JamesL]

Every year, my wife and I fish in a tag and release fishing tournament that benefits the The Large Pelagics Research Center (LPRC) to help continue research of Bluefin Tuna's spawning habits, migration habits, growth patterns and general species well-being. The event organizer of many years and Bluefin Tuna advocate and spokesman, Mark Godfried, recently passed away and this year's tournament was dedicated to him. A few local businesses and some dedicated people get involved every year and donate money, time and raffle prizes. I decided that this year I would thank them.

My Kiln went non-stop for several weeks before the tournament, unfortunately, during our biggest heat wave of the summer! I've been experimenting with Dichro Slide and LOW to HI FIRE Fusible Decal material. It's fun stuff and easy to work with. These pieces are not complicated. 6mm blanks are prefired and then decorated. The Dichro Slide seems to "pop" much better when its fired on a clear cap over whatever color you choose. The decal material does better over opaque glass and some colors "cover" better than others so if you layer, experiment first. Also, with the decal material, each layer should be fired. The Tuna Plates were fired 4 times each. They were given flat, except the smaller GW plate, with the offer to slump (I had to explain...). I have three waiting to slump.

The Tuna Plates are the logo of the tournament, "Tag-A-Tiny" as in juvenile BlueFin Tuna. Notice the Tag at the dorsal fin. Mrs. Godfried, Dr. Molly Lutcavage, Richard Burgess and daughter Heidi - all dedicated to the cause and tournament.

The GW stands for Grady White - Baert Marine in Danvers Ma is a big sponser as is Grady White.

The Blue Dichro slide plate is the logo of First Light Anglers - FLA - Looks like a tuna.

The Marlin is neither Dichro Slide nor Decal. It is 2mm thin contour fused on a 6mm blank. Our resident photographer got this, her granddaughter's name is Marlin.

The response was fantastic and everyone was surprised.

[tbach]

Nice work! Interested in finding out more about the Tuna images - are they digital decals? Are they fired directly on top of white opal or on clear cap layer? Since I don't see any bubbles, I assume that they were not fired on opal and then capped. Were your decals low fire (1300's) or high fire (1400plus)? Was the "toner" lead free? Would you be okay with letting me know where you had the decals made? I am currently researching the use of digital decals on glass, so any information you have would be very helpful.

Thanks for sharing your beautiful work.

[Joyce Walters]

Thank you for sharing the photos of all your hard, hot work.
And thank you for contributing to the tuna research people!
Joyce

[JamesL]

Thank you Joyce.
Thank you tbach. The materials I used were Dichro slide and Decal sheet material. Each piece was cut using Exacto blades and scissors. Change blades often! It is not fusible Photo paper. I purchased from GlassArtPatterns.com. They have good tutorials on how to use this. It comes in many colors of 4”x 4” sheets. I’ve used Dichro slide before but the decal material was new to me so I experimented using craft punches and firing single layer, different colored glass at different temps. I will pass on some of my findings but you may be looking for something else and should experiment for yourself. I ended up with some interesting refrigerator magnets for my efforts. I use System 96 by the way and the pieces shown were all pre-fused and full fused 6mm blanks.

For the Dichro slide:
-You can apply the Dichro slide and then cap with clear, but I like the look of it fired on a clear capped blank. It Pops. Although it is not now protected from scratches.
-My Schedule, 400/hr. to 1350/10 min – AFAP to 950/60 min – 150/hr. to 800/10 min- off
- Use sharp tools! Edges will fray and be noticeable.
-Product is not forgiving. In order to avoid wrinkles what you cut is what you must live with.

For the Decal Material:
-I like the look of it applied to lighter opal glass. Darker glass will affect the color of the decal. The Tunas were all done on white opal.
- You can muti-layer the decal material but each layer should be fired separately. Again, darker decal under lighter decal will affect final color. The Tunas were fired once for the blank and 3 times for layering the decals.
- I tried capping a test piece and the decal became mostly transparent. Interesting, but not what I wanted. Again, it is not now protected from scratches.
-My Schedule, 400/hr. to 1250/10 min – 400/hr. to 1350/10 min – AFAP to 950/60 min – 150/hr. to 800/10 min- off.
- What you cut is what you’ll see! Smooth, even cuts = Smooth, even edges. You’ll see cut start/stops in the final product. Again use sharp tools. I must have used 20 to 25 blades.
-But, product is very forgiving! It can be manipulated to correct errors. Trust me! I Know! LOL!

Hope this helps. Have fun!
Jim

[Valerie Adams]

Wow Jim, what a labor of love!
Back in my graphic design days when we used to cut lots of Rubylith film (how's that for dating myself?!), we only used surgical X-acto blades. I still buy them for cutting fiber blanket and other materials.

Your work is lovely; congrats.

Now, if only we could do something about that poor girl's name...

[JamesL]

Thank you valerie.

Now, if only we could do something about that poor girl's name...

Yes. Interesting, isn't it? She's a cute kid though. Hopefully she won't have a bumpy road over it.

[Drewcilla]

Beautiful work, Jim. Thank you so much for sharing your information. It's very generous of you.

[Morganica]

Holy cow. What a tremendous labor of love (and the diversity of method is almost as much fun as the glass!).

[tbach]

Thanks for feedback, Brad. Man . . . what patience you have to cut all of those pieces out of decal material and then reassemble! The payback for all that hard work is sharp, concise outlines and terrific color! All the Tuna images look perfect, so I assumed that they were full digital decal images . . . what threw me was the saturation of the colors. The digital decals I have used have much less saturated colors, and only the lead/selenium ones sport a bright red color after firing like the red in your Tuna designs.

I'm going to have to check out the decal color sheets you used.

Again - beautiful work . . . and I'm even more impressed now that I know they were hand cut.

[tbach]

Well . . . another faux pas to add to my growing list!!

Sorry, Jim. For some reason I had Brad's name in my head when I replied to your original posting. Please accept my sincere apologies for the brain fart.

[JamesL]

Thanks to you all for the kind comments.

De Nada (No problem) tbach.

[Labrador]

Great work , thank for sharing

Sophie