Welcome to the GlassFire Art Studio
Custom Made Glass Artwork

    FUSION, is the method in which this glass art was created.

    We first purchase, then take colored sheets of glass 20" by 34", and cut out designs, using nearly all of each full sheet, in a number of different pieces. We then place the cut glass pieces of our design next to each other on a kiln (large oven using fire-bricks and heated by metal coils) shelf inside of a large oven(Kiln) , cover the whole piece with a sheet of clear glass, and begin our fusion programming. This is also referred to as 'firing' or 'cooking' the glass. This programming sometimes uses as many as 11 segments, each segment controlling the ascent of the temperature for a particular amount of time. The high tempurature usually reached is between 1450 and 1625 degrees farenheit. As the kiln oven cools we program a slow descent in the temperature for as many as 7 hours between 950 and 880 degrees.
    The glass then cools to room temperature (which takes up to 6 hours), where we remove it from the kiln, and begin our work to grind the excess, uneven edges into a workable shape. We then place different shaped molds (usually ceramic or stainless steel, covered in 'kiln wash' which keeps the glass from sticking to the surfaces) that we have chosen for the glass to take a particular form best suited for the work, into the kiln, take our clean dry artglass pieces and put them onto the molds and start the kiln for a second heat-up.
    We take the pieces up to somewhere between 1210 and 1360 degrees farenheit, the temperature depends on the colors, as they do not fuse at the same temperature, nor do they 'slump' (the 2nd process, wherein the glass takes the shape of the mold it is placed on) at the same temperature. We then let the temperature drop to 950 degrees and from that point until it reaches 880 degrees, we anneal (give it strength and helps each piece fused to really bond) the glass. At that point the temperature will slowly drop to room temperature where we remove the finished pieces. We then make sure everything is smooth and clean, wrap it in bubble wrap for safety, and it is ready to go.

    The fusion segment usually takes about 14-17 hours, then the 'slump' segment takes another 11-14 hours. It does take longer for bigger items such as fireplace mantles (up to 5 days fusion time, and let it relax for 3 months) When we run in super fast mode, which is somewhat rare, we can complete both segments in 24 hours.

    Each piece used in our glasswork has been hand cut, though we do use a ruler for the edge on some pieces. All pieces are signed on the back by the artist that worked on the piece.