WarmGlass.com

I usually don't do this sort of thing, but I've got a special request for a pendant in a cat shape. I do have a Taurus ringsaw, so I cut out a simple shape of a cat out of regular black BE and another identical shape out of the thinner BE and put them on top of each other. My thought was that that combination of thicknesses would not cause the glass to "sprawl". I put a spot of dichro in the middle of the cat's body for good measure. I fired it quickly, thinking that would give it less time to loose its shape--took it right up to 1450 (where my kiln does a full fuse) in about two hours. Held it at 1450 for about five minutes and turned off until I annealed it. It did keep the cat shape pretty well, if anything I underfired it and will have to hold it longer next time. I don't have a lot of time to experiment with this since there will be cat cremains in the final version. Does anyone have any helpful hints about firing schedules, glass thickness, etc? I'd really appreciate it! Thanks, Kate Saunders

How about cuting the design out of irid? The irid will hold the shape very well.

For crisp designs you might consider stenciling enamel or powder onto the piece. Sometimes a bit of hairspray will hold everything in place long enough to get it in the kiln.

- Paul

Thanks for the dichro suggestion, it makes sense. Not sure if my customer wants a 100% dichro cat, but I'll run it past her! It's a bit tricky since she wants me to hide the cat's ashes so they're not visible, so I'll have to do some more experiments on dichro layering. I don't think the enamels would work since she wants a cut out shape of a cat, not one put onto the glass with enamels or frits. Anymore suggestions would be appreciated. I was thinking that I could always fire it, then go back and recut any melted rounded off edges and fire polish. Thanks for the suggestions!
Kate Saunders

katesaunders wrote:Thanks for the dichro suggestion, it makes sense. Not sure if my customer wants a 100% dichro cat, but I'll run it past her! It's a bit tricky since she wants me to hide the cat's ashes so they're not visible
Kate Saunders

So will the pendant contain the cat's ashes?!?
Just curious - how large a pendant will it have to be?

I usually do my full fusing of the blank first and then cut out with the ring saw. Then I fire polish. This keeps the shape perfectly. Not sure if this will work for you since you need to fire it with the ashes in place but you might be able to work out a design where you leave a space to add ashes and tack fuse the cover on later....

There is an example of a cut piece made this way that is very dichro on my home page.

~Nan
http://www.GlassOrchids.com

thanks for your replies! I'm beginning to think it's going to be possible to do this! The pendant will be regular pendant size, maybe two inches tall. I have a design where the cat's tail is wrapped around its body so there are no skinny parts hanging off the main design. I use only a tiny pinch of ash, which will be in the center of the piece (all going well).
And thanks for the dichro website! Wow, amazing stuff. I don't use much dichro but maybe I'll reconsider that. I hadn't realized just how delicate a cut you can get with it. I'll definitely give that technique a try. THANKS!
Kate Saunders

Kate:

There are two sizes of blades for the ring saw so get the smaller one for jewelry if you haven't already.

~Nan