Kiln Work Part II: Casting Glass
From Furnace to Flame: A Journey In Glass
Now that I had this big kiln sitting around, I needed to do something with it. So, I decided to do some cast glass. I first used the crushed scrap glass I had made. I started with just four molds; trio feather, large feather, circle, and paw. Some of the first pieces did not work and I had to adjust the kiln schedule to get things to work.
Each mold has to be cleaned between uses and coated with a release agent before being used again. The molds all have specific fill weights and glass has to be meticulously measured out when loading the molds.
I eventually added some more molds; peace sign, dog bone, tree, murrini bars, and two square sheet molds. The bars and sheets are used for other projects and will be covered elsewhere in the blog. I have used frit, dots, noodles, and glass paint to give the cast glass their color patterns.
Most of my molds are well suited for making ornaments, but the little feathers do not have a built in loop so I have used my other skills to make use of them. I have made many into pins and one got wire wrapped.
Blue feathers are a symbol within the SCA for LGBTQ people and I enjoy making them with details to give each one character. The large feather below is made with multiple colors of blue and clear glass as well to give it this speckled pattern.
