The cool thing with working in glass fusion, is mistakes and broken pieces aren't that big of deal. Well they are from an emotional standpoint but they can be recycled and re-fired into a different creation or sometimes into the same depending on the break..
When my job closed (yes due to Covid) I got a fair amount of fusible glass. Some were old samples some were scrap but there was a fair amount of it. Unfortunately it's not the *COE (Coefficient of Expansion) I generally work with, which basically means the glass I got from work would not work with the glass I typically work with. Mixing the 2 *COE's would be very bad. So I have to not mix them EVER. So what can I do with all this glass, can't sell it as mine as I didn't make the samples. Not a fan of some of the designs created, so what did I do???
I had a mold, that's basically a coaster or tile mold. I actually have 2 ones a single square and ones a 4 square (so big that its the only thing I can put in my kiln when its being fired). So I chopped up a bunch of the glass and laid it in the mold fired it and taa daa! Coasters, really cool coasters.
pre fired coasters, just the glass in the mold
after firing in the kiln, glass is all melted and fused together
finished coasters
so many different variations
close up view of one
same close up view but different angle.COE or Coefficient of Expansion - how much a material will expand for each degree of temperature increase.
