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hi, im new to glass fusing
this is a 2 part question 1st:
im getting my small glass pendants fused at a local glass shop for a fee as i dont have a kiln myself yet, im not 100% happy with the outcome, when I cut a dimond, square or triangle I like the glass to still resemble the shape but it seems they are far too rounded at the corners and a small 1cm sq turns into a round bead. can you recomend a good schedual for small pieces: 3 layers thin, BE top & bottom with dichro thin bits in middle.
2nd: I would like to insert silver bails that i make out of thin strips but need advice as ive seem some jewellery with bails that have moved out of place in the kiln and it spoils the work, is there a wright way of doing this
thanks for any advice
sarah[/b]

Sarah, you might want to look into one of the small tabletop kilns that run on houshold current as a solution. I used a paragon Quickfire for a year and a half before getting my bigger kiln up and running. It was a great way for me to begin to learn about how glass works. And it wasn't a huge investment. This would solve your control issues. You could fire the glass to exactly the level of roundedness you wanted.

I imagine it would be very difficult to control what they fire for you. A schedule that keeps crisp edges for big pieces may leave much more rounded edges on smaller pieces. Really the only way to figure out how to get the result you want with the particular composite of elements you have (Kiln size, glass size, glass type, schedule) is to experiment and keep records. That is difficult to do when someone else is firing for you.

I hope you are able to find a solution that works for you Sarah.

Barbara

One approach you could try would be to make your pieces larger than you want and cut them down with a diamond tile saw from Home Depot. This way you would get crispier shapes. You could then fire polish which would round them up a bit but not as much.

The other alternative is to tack fuse so the shapes stay more like their original.

Remember that the glass would like to be about 1/4" thick so thinner shapes will ball up to get there when heated hot enough.

Part of design is to work with the properties of the glass to get what you want. Sometimes it is much easier to let the glass lead you than struggling to get it to do something it is reluctant to do. On the other hand if you can get crispy shapes that are difficult to achieve, you will have a distinctive look.

When I rent out kiln space I always warn that I will try and get close to what they want, but it is unlikely that I will get it exactly. If we were to run a few loads, then toward the end it would be closer to perfect, but every new project involves learning, even the seemingly simple ones. By the time you pay for a few loads to nail it down, you may have gotten close to the cost of getting your own used kiln.

Would using only 2 layers of glass help Sarah? From reading, it looks like using 2 layers retains the shape and size of the glass. Not sure-- I'm a newbie who's asking. Sue

thanks for the advice, i cant afford a kiln yet im saving up for a bigger one so i can also make bowls.I have had to grind the glass back to shape which is a real pain to do but ive not re- fired it as this would be too costly.I dont want to cut down to just 2 layers as the 3rd top layer is clear BE which makes the pendants lovely and shiney without it the dichroic has a matt finnish. I think my problem may be due to the way the studio heats the kiln up but as i dont have any idea of what a good schedual is for small jewellery pieces I cant advise them, they only use their kiln for glass painting for church windows and im guessing they use the same setting for my poor glass