Beautiful Bowl Backs in Fused Glass

Fusers reserve glass with mica carved back

One of the questions that is often asked in the fused glass world is, "How do I get the back of my glass smooth?" When glass softens, it picks up the texture of whatever it's against. That texture might be from shelf paper or kiln wash, or even the texture of a smooth stainless steel mold. Thus, the qualities of glass that make it so versatile also cause some of its problems.

Rather than fight this problem, why not use it to your advantage? Paul Tarlow has published a great little ebook that teaches several methods for using texture in design of bowls. The book is called, "Beautiful Bowl Backs" and it can be found at http://fusedglassbooks.com/.

A few months back I had a chance to read the book and try out some of the methods. Here are some of the results of my "beautiful bowl backs". (The other problem glass artists face is photography, so please excuse the poor photos!)

Mica carved back

The method used on this bowl back uses mica to create texture and shimmer. It's the back of the blue bowl pictured above:

Silver Lining fused glass art bowl

Mica carved back

I used a similar method on this bowl. Mica was also used on top of the bowl to give the piece a nice shimmer (I named it "Silver Lining" and it's currently residing in our local artists' co-op).



This bowl uses a method of kiln-carving for the back design. The piece was laid out in an 8" "Patty Gray Dam mold", which meant cold-working was minimal. I'm partial to the bold, clean design and strong contrasting colors, so this one is my favorite of the bowls. (I added small bump-ons to provide better stability.)

8" fused glass bowl

Kiln carved back

And finally, one more bowl using kiln-carved design. The bottom of this bowl was cold-worked so it will sit flatly. The top is a black fusers reserve (Spectrum System 96 glass) with Flexi-glass mica chips.

Kiln carved back

Black/white fusers reserve & mica chips

These are just a couple of the ideas covered in the Beautiful Bowl Backs ebook for using texture to your advantage in your fused glass art. Maybe it will get your ideas flowing on how you can work with the properties of glass to its full advantage.

Happy fusing!
Dana

Resources:

http://fusedglassbooks.com/








Bullseye offers a great video on kiln-carving (subscription required)

Patty Gray Dam molds can be found at Creative Paradise https://creativeparadise.biz/glass-3/patty-gray-molds-for-glass

Flexi-glass can be found at Fusion Headquarters: http://www.fusionheadquarters.com/Flexi_Glass_s/255.htm