Volume of glass question

[Susanbuckler]

Hi
I've attached a photo of a recent piece
10.5 X 5.5 gentle slump
BE glass
Question: how do I accommodate the placement of shapes on top of the glass as a third layer without the design under the third layer bulging out? If I add the shapes (in this case, they were free dicro samples received when I order from COE 90) in a second fusing fire, will that lessen the impact of the bulge below?

You can see the bulge in this photo at the true blue transparent strip, under the larger dicro piece
Base is clear tekta
Thanks for your advice

Susan

[Morganica]

You mean the black peeking out from under the dichro?

[Susanbuckler]

No, not the black
If you look closely, you can see there is some displacement of the true blue caused by the addition of the third layer, directly near the dicro. The blue is slightly wider, caused by the additional glass in that area. I know it is only slight and is difficult to see but I am curious if there is a way to add an accent piece and not get the bulge

[Rick Wilton]

that's where coldworking comes into the equation. Sometimes it's the only way to square up an edge.

Coldworking (grinding and polishing) can take a nice piece and make it a great piece. It takes it to the next level, "finishes it off".

[Morganica]

Probably not. It's a volume question--the glass on top has to go somewhere when it melts into the base glass, so it displaces what's underneath. If you tack-fuse it, it will stay on top of the glass and not displace it. You could also cut out a hole in the strip to fit the dichro, so that the volume is essentially the same.

[Susanbuckler]

Cynthia
When I see fused glass plates and other pieces with accent pieces, if the artist did not want the effect the volume increase would cause on a specific color or placement, they have cut a hole in the second layer to accommodate the increased volume? So interesting.

[Morganica]

Or possibly fused the components separately and trimmed them to size to remove the bulge, then fused them again. Or built the stripe out of frit. Or accepted the volume change.

Or got lucky.

[Eryc F.]

you could fuse it upside down without the dicro and with the blue cut, and use an 1/8" fiber piece to "take up the space", then flip and fuse with the dicro where the fiber piece was.

[Susanbuckler]

That is a very interesting idea, Eryc
I will try it soon
Thanks for the suggestion

[Tony Smith]

You might try damming the piece. That would keep the edges straight.

Tony

[Morganica]

That's what I thought at first too, Tony. But I think what she's talking about is melting the dichro into the blue stripe without changing the footprint of the blue stripe. Damming might help a bit, but I'm not sure it would solve the problem.

[Susanbuckler]

Yes, Cynthia, that's what I am talking about.
And I assume the same issue occurs regardless of what the accent third layer is, and it is not related to the accent being dicro.
My kiln is so small, shelf is only 12 inches square....hard to dam
Wish I had bought a bigger kiln

[Joe Wokovich]

"Wish I had bought a bigger kiln"

Spoken like a true glassaholic !

[Eryc F.]

"Wish I had bought a bigger kiln"

Spoken like a true glassaholic !

I bought an 8" square kiln and said this.

Then I bought a 15" octagon kiln... And still say this!

[Valerie Adams]

If your third layer accents (I usually use thin glass for my third-layer elements) are far enough away from the edge, they don't typically blob out the surrounding glass. I don't get closer than about 3/4" to the edge of my pieces.

You may have simply cut your blue just a tad wider, or because it's a transparent that's darker than the surrounding glass, it may have just spread a tiny bit more. If I'm using black pieces that'll show on an edge between other colors, I'll often undercut the black by just the smallest amount, to allow for that bit of extra spread.

But overall, cold working is the solution.

[Eryc F.]

I THINK that you don't mean the edge of the dish, but the edge of the blue as it goes across the plate, and that's what I based my answer on. The part of the blue closest to the dicroic widens slightly due to displacement, and that's what I based my answer on.