Finished glass

I collected my 2 pieces from my recent class, they had been through the professional kiln, with someone who knew what she was doing. This is poppies, the bits in the clear glass should have been clouds and patches of darker blue sky, but I used glass too thick, hence the air bubbles.

 This one is very different, I wanted to keep the textures, I will hang it on my office wall. I did make it the other way up, and after I left I asked for a hanging loop to be added. I am not unhappy with the look, even if I made it to be the other way around.

 Here you can see the different levels, in the firing the sharp edges have become round and soft, but the definition of the shapes are still there. I just want to touch this piece. 

I thought I would try something like this at home, 

using my microwave kiln, a nice simple project.

I forgot to take a photo before mine went in the kiln, it was a basic design, with 3 tree pieces in different shades of green, with a small yellow millefiori at the top and a small brown millefiori at the bottom. I added some frit in green and red colours for simple decoration, the photo shows the glass I used.  This was more about testing the process, I 'cooked on high' for 2 minutes burst, for 4 times and then left for an hour to cool down. The cooling down being the hardest part, cos I did want to see how it all came out. 

Not quite right, the middle piece of glass slipped and is too low, it was the wrong colour to choose, I thought it would enhance the tree. I over fired this, whilst it's lovely and smooth, the smaller bits of glass melted too much. But for a 1st piece, it shows promise, the basic design was right, this will be the biggest size I can make, which for me is OK. 

I found online cut circles of glass in both clear and white glass, small circles are hard to cut, plus a couple of useful tools. These have been added to my stash list. 

I found cutting the glass not so difficult, I had purchased the same cutter and snips as I had used in my class, all the bits of glass were the same thickness, which is important in my small kiln. I used all the safety items, gloves, goggles and a mask to ensure safety first. I collected any bits of glass, which can be used on another project, nothing is wasted in glass fusion, even the tiny glass flakes can be used for decoration. If I decide not to keep my tree, the glass can be broke up and reused.
I enjoyed the process, and will do another design at the tomorrow, I have so many things I would like to make, I am thinking of having another half day class to make a bigger item, probably happen next year.