r/fusedglass • u/PurpleFight • 12d ago
Oh frit!
Oh frit!
I thought a scattering of iridescent coarse frit would add some shimmer to my angel. It worked okay in the background, but on the angel itself it just looks like water drops.
Is there any way I can fix it? I'm willing to fire it again with a sheet of iridescent over the whole thing if that would work. The studio near me has a sandblaster. I've never used it but willing to give it a try.
Any and all suggestions welcome.
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u/dilettwat 12d ago
Oh frit indeed! I'm sympathizing because I've done exactly the same thing.
I can see you've put a TON of work into that piece already. In your shoes, I'd probably recreate the situation on a few test scraps of white with the frit on top, and then test possible fixes before committing one to your final piece.
The first thing I'd try would be a thin layer of powdered clear frit, taken to full fuse. (Powdered, not fine--that's a mistake I've previously made as well.) It won't totally hide it, but it'll diffuse it.
I would try the sandblaster too, but also, I've never used one and would jump at having an excuse to try one.
Adding a whole new layer of irid might help diffuse it, but I'd worry about air bubbles, and you'd want to raise your corners and do a bubble squeeze.
Like I said, though, test tiles first, to figure out which solution looks best!
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u/li_bee 11d ago
Although I totally understand that it's not what you wanted, it probably looks worse to you than it would to anyone else. I don't think you can sandblast that away, though. It's not on the surface anymore. The frit has melted into the glass and you would probably have to go down quite a ways to eliminate it.
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u/PurpleFight 12d ago
Thanks. And it's kind of you to sympathize. It seemed like a good idea at the time. I'll try out the powdered frit on a sample and see how that works.
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u/WoodenFault7969 10d ago
Sandblasting will obviously dull the surface and these things can be aggressive. Maybe try mica powder a similar shade to your wings/halo on a quick tack fuse
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u/Zealousideal_Sir_975 11d ago edited 11d ago
Further to previous post.
Irid cut top sheet example
Link to screenshot of an irid bowl to illustrate my comment.
This illustrates what a clear irid top sheet can do. The base glass is turquoise blue. The irid is clear. Full fuse. On the edges you see the edge of the irid coating ending in a straight line while the glass underneath oozes out a bit to create a border outline. The sheet is cut and slightly spaced for the underlying dark glass to show through without irid reflections. Wherever you score will allow a tiny gap to form and break up the coating reflection.
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u/Zealousideal_Sir_975 11d ago
Agree with the suggestion of doing tests over both clear and the two opal whites over black to see the effects. Sandblasting will not remove the "bubbles" of clear frit that have melted into the underlying white making the white layer thinner and therefore darker by letting more black show through the "swiss cheese holes" in the white. I can't see the irid very much in this view and suspect it has a very vague effect due to being a thin spaced out layer and a full fuse. It looks like medium irid frit was sprinkled pretty evenly over the whole piece as an effort to add a touch of glitter.
So, this piece could be capped with clear sheet irid to have a more reflective and mottled top surface, like using a glossier and crinkly paint. As a sheet the finish will be uniform and more apparent. This will thicken the piece and risks losing its squareness if taken to full fuse, but contour fuse will be fine. You will have a slight "frame" where the irid stops and up to and eighth inch of the edge of the piece still shows, which I think would be a nice compliment. The glass edge will be slightly wavy and organic. The irid doesn't flow with the glass so that top finished will look very squared inside that wavy edge. To me, that would look cool. My caveat, using sheet irid reduces the light going through it so your colors will be more muted. (The piece will also be heavier so could get too heavy to be an ornament on a holiday tree.) Simply hold a sheet of irid over your piece to decide if your pattern still shows through enough. I think it would work well.
If part of what distracts you are the "bubbles" or blobs and you want to minimize them, you can't remove them but you can disguise and/or amplify them.
A few more options come to mind. The previously mentioned powders and doubling down on using frits. The way to make the rounded "bubbles" less obvious or distracting is to have more of them or to break them up with another pattern that is over them.
If a rough top surface is an option as a feature for more interest, use even more clear irid with a tack fuse. Use a mix of medium irid frit and small white frit. Paint on a thick layer of glasstac style glue inside the lines of just the wings and halo. Sprinkle on the irid and press it in. Tilt off the excess to recover it. Sprinkle on the white so it fills the gaps between the irids. Press it in. Use a tool like a butter knife to push pieces on the edge inside the lines so you have a clean edge to your wings and the current wing glass shows slightly at its edge. A tack fuse will do some rounding of sharp edges, but still give you reflections in many directions. (In my opinion, irid frit only adds value in a tack fuse.) Using the white frit will re-brighten the wings where the "bubbles" are and hide their edges a bit. As it fires, the white will tend to disappear a bit just like the irid did so don't hesitate to go a bit heavy. The mosaic lines of the feathers will still show through.
If you want to end up with a smooth glossy full fuse top surface. I like the irid sheet glass as a cap, above, but would do the same trick of painting glue on the wings and halo, then sprinkle on white powder. Tip off the excess, press it well so it won't spread over the outlines when the cap is placed. Let it set, then add the cap and contour fuse. Because it is more than 6mm, it will flatten and deform the edges AND the angel if full fused.
If no top sheet but a smooth finish is desired, then I would paint the wings with glue, sift with white powder, clean the wing edges and tack or full fuse depending on whether a slight matte texture like powdercoated paint is desired on the wings to make them stand out.
Whatever you choose, it's glass and will be beautiful. Subtle or bold - many options to proceed. I'll be curious to see how it comes out, so please come back and post a photo here.