iKandies Does Hot Glass

A few years ago at the Bead and Button Show in Milwaukee, iKandies took a lampworking class in which they attempted to make glass beads.  iKandies has always been fascinated with glass and thought this would be a fun way to experiment with it. We learned about the properties of glass, torches, marvers, glass rods, safety...  We found out this art is much harder than it appears!  Although our beads weren't that great, and we haven't attempted to make any more, this class has given us a much greater appreciation for the skills and talent of the glass bead makers we meet!

Recently iKandies had the opportunity to try our hand at glass blowing.  Akron Glass works held a class where we learned some of the basic techniques and had a chance to get the feel of what is involved in this art craft while we made a glass pumpkin with instructor Jack Baker.

Jack walked us through the basic steps - quite a lot involved in making this pumpkin!  He described the procedures and tools, then let us pick glass colors we could use for the body and the stem.

 

 You don't realize how hot these ovens can be until you get real close to them! Here we are heating up the pipe to prepare it for our instructor, Jack, to gather hot glass from the oven.


Jack has now added several layers of glass, including the colors we have chosen, and reheated it.  The oven behind him is where he gathers the molten glass.  The temperature is around 21000 degrees! We are using Jacks (the tool in my hand) to carve a line at what will be the bottom of my pumpkin so that it can be broken off the pipe.


All the layers of glass have been added and we're setting it in the pumpkin mold.

It takes a lot of air to help coax this pumpkin into shape, but here's the final product.  We keep the top hot with a blow torch while Jack prepares the stem.  After he adds it, the pumpkin goes into the kiln for overnight baking.


And here's the final product!



Kriss' Pumpkin!

Watch this YouTube video showing some of the steps involved in making our glass pumpkin, demonstrated by Debi and our instructor, Jack:



Of Dogs and Leather ....

Leather clothing and accessories have become all the rage this past year.  Everybody is buying, selling, or wearing it and recently I found that one of iKandies' canine friends has suddenly taken to leather too. She not only likes to wrap herself in it but has been including it in her diet.  We lost several leather bags, a book cover, and some of our leather jewelry supplies to this leather-loving carnivore.  The other day I found her in the final stages of devouring a leather bracelet I had been working on. Maybe all she wants is a leather collar...

Regaliz Black Leather Bracelet for Men

Regaliz Purple Leather Bracelet

 So iKandies has added a few leather pieces to their line of jewelry, like these leather bracelets.  The black and purple bracelets are made of Regaliz Italian leather while the blue bracelet is leather cording.


Blue Larimar Jasper Wrapped Bracelet

A source of some of our leather has been the online wholesaler, Best Beads.  We also saw them at the 2013 Bead and Button Show.  They have all sorts of leather sizes, styles, colors including the newly popular Regaliz Italian round and flat leathers.
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iKandies recently visited a local Tandy Leather Store to search through their scrap bins for unusual pieces to incorporate in their jewelry. We also found a few accessores we'd like to include as we design our jewelry, like this Pulsar Star concho  and easy lock bracelet clasps.

Many fashion trends come and go but it appears that leather is here to stay, at least for a while longer. 

iKandies and Glass Fusing!

iKandies tried something new over the weekend: glass fusing!  A local glass studio, Akron Glass Works, began the annual offering of glass fusing and glass blowing workshops.  At the last minute, iKandies decided to sign up for a glass fusing class, and we're glad we did!

Pistol Grip Glass Cutter

We thought glass fusing involved using a torch so we were surprised to learn the process is done in a kiln.  Layers of glass are heated to a temperature from 1100 to 1700 degrees and as the glass reaches a molten state, the pieces are fused together. Since not all glass expands or contracts at the same rate, the glass must be compatible. We learned about the coefficient of expansion - COE - or the rate at which glass expands when heated. To prevent the glass from cracking during the cool down process, he COE of the glass being used must be the same. We also learned about some new tools like running pliers - a tool used to break glass by hand along a scored line made on the glass and a pistol grip cutter which is used to score the glass before breaking it into pieces.



  

Glass pieces, copper foil and tools

Then we discussed patterns, cutting the glass and positioning it on our base piece.  We were shown how to layer the glass and add decorative features such as copper foil, glass frit (crushed glass) and glass stringers (long string like pieces of glass).

Running Pliers used to snap off scored glass

Scoring the glass wasn't hard, but cutting anything other than a simple shape was!  So we stuck with a simple design: a tree made with fall colors.



 

Positioning the glass

We chose transparent glass so that we could layer copper foil between some of the leaves and the base glass.  Then we applied glue to tack the pieces in place before firing the project in a kiln.  The kiln is a large floor model that is heated to 1480 degrees in order to fuse the glass properly.




Ready for the Kiln

We learned about glass slumping or allowing the glass to heat and then "slump" into a prepared mold while in the kiln.  The molds are made of clay or stainless steel.






The finished product!