Tuesday 15 March 2011

Fused Glass Cabochons with Decals in Sepia

I ordered these from the States - I really should move there as all my craft goodies are there already!
They are sepia images which can be fired onto an already fused cabochon. I can get a compatible printer and special paper and do them myself but it is much easier to design and let someone else print them for me. I hasten to add I did not design these images, except for the Hebrew one at the bottom, but now that I have seen the results I am in the process of designing my own.

Decal work is tricky! Too hot and you ruin it, not hot enough and it will rub off. The glass has to be a light colour for the decal to stand out so they are not suitable for dichroic or other sparkly glass which is a pity as there are very limited 22k gold, titanium and black decals available.

The upside is that you already have a cab in a finished state then you add the decal, whereas firing a decal onto, or into, work to be fused has a lot more room for error and waste.
I can always rework a failed cab, but if it has a messed up decal in it ..........that's not fixable!

If only they stayed black! Here they are all dried and prepped for the kiln. Decals are very fragile and need to be positioned carefully on the glass, squeegeed flat to remove any bubbles or water and left to dry for at least 12 hours.

And after a session in the kiln. The kiln has to be vented to allow the decal medium to burn off, phew does it stink! They have to soak at temp for about 20 mins.

and after...............
I have something slightly different planned for the stop watch as it looks antique. Currently trying to source suitable brass or copper bails to go for a vintage look. I bought some copper ones but they are very shiny so the search continues.

2 comments:

E Makes Art said...

love these! and I love using copper... it should be easy to antique with liver of sulphur, unless it has a coating on it.

xoEsther

Linsey LLoyd said...

WOW i love ur pieces ur very cleaver

please have a nosey round my blog hope u like it xx