Hi everyone,
I’m relatively new to fusing and came across a turn of the century glass that I’m trying to replicate for a fireplace mosaic design. The glass is by Giannini and Hilgart (Chicago) who did a lot of glass work for Frank Lloyd Wright and others. Any idea how they were able to achieve this pattern on the leaves? I believe they used a gold paint/enamel, but I’m not sure how they achieved the broken/deconstructed pattern. It seems like they applied an oil or some kind prior to painting in order to disrupt the applied paint? I’ve tested out a lot of techniques to no avail, and curios if anyone had ideas?
For my project, I will probably use a customized stencil to simulate the look, but I’m dying to know how this was done.
There are a number of ways to create this kind of look. In fusing, it's most often done with glass powders, but that wasn't the technique used here.
What you want are two different materials -- in ceramics, they're glazes -- that dry at different rates. Basically, the top layer cracks as it dries (usually with the help of a kiln). If you search on "crackle glaze" you'll find a bunch of products that do this.
There used to be a product with a similar finished look from a company called Hanovia, known mostly for their gold lusters. But that company no longer exists and the firm that bought them long ago discontinued most of their product line.
At any rate, I don't know the exact products used but most likely it was, as you guessed, a black enamel of some sort used with a gold luster (or paint) on top.