Kiln Formed Glass, or "Fused Glass", is the most amazing artistic process I have ever come across. It is a mixture of art and science and is extremely challenging. While stained glass, blown glass and cast glass have been around for many centuries, using a kiln to fuse glass is a newer process full of experimentation. It only became a workable method just over 30 years ago thanks to a small group of Oregon glassmakers. I have been working with it for 18 years and during the last three years I studied under Italian born glass maestro Narcissus Quagliata, who is one of the original artists to practice kiln formed glass and is responsible for many techniques and processes in use today. I am thrilled to be a part of the evolution of kiln formed glass.
The glass I use is created at the Bullseye Glass factory in Portland, Oregon. It is available in a wide array of colors and opacities. It starts out in various forms as sheet glass, crushed glass (called "frit"), glass rods, strings and powdered glass. It fires in my kiln at temperatures ranging from 1100-1750 degrees Fahrenheit. Certain colors react poorly with each other if they touch and some have different melting points or rates of expansion and contraction so there are technical issues confronted while creating with this medium.
There are multiple methods of kiln forming glass that vary based on the speed of heating, what top temperature is reached and how long the temperature is held. Glass can be "fully fused" until pieces melt into a smooth even surface or it can be heated at a lower temperature and "contour fused" to retain texture in the cooled glass. It can be fired up to a very high temperature so the glass moves and colors stretch and slide or heated low and slow to gently move or "slump" it into a custom shape like a bowl or platter. It can also be "cast" into a mold to make three dimensional artwork.
A lot of knowledge and planning goes into a complicated piece of kiln formed glass. Most finished pieces are built in stages and fired multiple times by first making parts, then joining everything together and at the end of the process embellishing with detail work. Bubbles are a normal part of kiln formed glass and can be minimized or used strategically to create movement and life in finished artwork. Some colors can be fired only two or three times before they tarnish or become unstable and others can be fired in the kiln many more times, so project planning is essential! For artists who possess a scientific mind and love dedicating themselves to learning, kiln formed glass is a spectacular medium.
Glass can present an image, scatter light from its surface, reflect like a mirror, transfer color into a room and act as a window or screen to the outside world. There is magic in light shining through colorful glass and the look constantly changes depending on the time of day and lighting. If kiln formed glass isn't physically broken it can hold its color and quality for thousands of years without degradation. It's a unique material, both fragile and strong, made from white sand that contains at least 95 percent quartz with minerals like copper and gold added for color. I can feel its energetic properties when I'm handling this stone-agate-crystal material and turning it into artwork. How precious is that?