WarmGlass.com

I am a jeweler new to glass and have recently become fascinated with working in dichroic glass. Over the last year or so I have gotton pretty good at fusing and layering it on a jewelry scale, and am ready for a new challenge. My question to all of you is how in the world do you fuse glass bangles? Can this be done in a small kiln. I am itching to try it.

It is done in a small kiln. 6" Evenheat hotbox or the 8" AIM are the best. Jayne Persico sells the bracelet molds and graphite tongs at http://www.jpglassworks.net. You can buy other sets, but they are knockoffs of Jayne's design, so you are on your own there.

The basics are that you have a heavy stainless steel oval tube wrapped in ceramic fiber and you balance a glass "blank" of the appropriate length on top. The blanks are usually 1½ or 2 layers thick, about 3/4" wide and 6" long, but that varies depending on wrist circumference. Close the lid, turn the kiln on high, come back about 16 minutes later and when the temperature hits about 1400 you turn off the power, open the lid and with the special graphite tongs, you reach into the kiln and manipulate legs of the slumped blank up and under the mold, tucking the legs under until the glass is cool enough to stay in place. You close the kiln and anneal. That's pretty much it in a nutshell.

Tony

Hi,
I also am making bracelets,and am having fun. I am using the Aim kiln, it's great....heats up so fast etc. I have been using 6'blancks, but have found i need to go a little longer, it seems to shrink a bit once it's fused.
So I always go just a little bigger. I'm using BE glass. Hope this helps.
Vickie