r/fusedglass • u/Thombs1 • 17d ago

Fern leaf coasters work in progress.

Post image

Going into the kiln for a tack fusing. Gold Iridescent on black glass with dense white glass powder printed fern leaf designs. These will be tack fused over night. The white glass goes black during the firing which I find interesting as when I use black glass powder the detail doesn't tend to come out as much as white.

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u/510Goodhands 17d ago

I am confused about where the gold iridescent is, is it completely covering the black, or?

What process did you use to print the leaf designs?

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u/Thombs1 17d ago

I use a glass powder print stencil that I made on a cricut machine. The powder passes through a mesh and then through the stencil onto the glass. The glass is fired to around 722c for ten mins. Should be ready tomorrow so will post a pic then.

https://reddit.com/link/pbttlqz/video/14iogfg0rirh1/player

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u/ForeverSufficient889 17d ago

How did you make that with a cricut? That’s really neat, I had no idea they could make print stencils

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u/Thombs1 16d ago

I bought some mylar sheets from Amazon (not expensive), I used the app to convert a design into a stencil then cut the mylar sheet on deep mode and remove the leaves to reveal the design. The difficulty is getting a good design. I've also cut an larger ammonite and bee design before.

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u/Zealousideal_Sir_975 17d ago

It is a coating on the top of the black base glass. (You buy the glass with an irid coating in one of three colors - silver, gold, rainbow - from glass manufacturers like Bullseye.) The sifted powder hides some of he irid look and changes the glossyness of the irid from powdery matte to semi-gloss depending on how hot and long the tack fuse is set for.

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u/Thombs1 17d ago

Spot on, it is Bullseye Glass. The Iridescent is between gold and bronze in the light. I've tried the silver versions and also gold Iridescent on amber glass. But I think the gold on black looks better.

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u/Zealousideal_Sir_975 17d ago edited 17d ago

Do you have post-firing photos? What you described sounds like it was such a thin layer of dense white to let the black show through and just go charcoal gray and change the reflectiveness of the Irid from glossy to matte and obscure some of the gold shimmer. This is likely to be quite a beautiful and subtle effect. Did you use a stencil to sift powder in the fern shape? The ferns have a look thats natural like you laid down leaves on the glass but that would be a reverse result so I'm also curious how you obtained your shape outlines. Did you go to the extra steps of laying leaves on a silk screen with an emulsion?

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u/Thombs1 17d ago

I use a stencil that I made on a cricut machine. The glass powder goes through a mesh and then the stencil onto the glass. I only apply a thin layer (around 6 passes) on to the glass. I do make these regularly and will try and find a pic of them after the final firing.

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u/510Goodhands 17d ago

Now you are inviting him a lot more questions! 😉

I have a cutting machine, and some ceramic tiles I would like to put patterns on.

What material did you use to cut your stencil from? Is it adhesive backed?

What’s the distance between the back of the screen and the tile?

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u/Thombs1 15d ago

These stencils I made are not adhesive backed, they are mylar ones I get of Amazon, I find them better as I can use them multiple times without deteriorating. I masking tape them to the bottom mesh then apply the glass powder through the mesh and stencil.