Recycling Fused Glass into Coasters

 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.

DEFINITIONS:

COE or Coefficient of Expansion - how much a material will expand for each degree of temperature increase.

What has everyone been doing with the world imploding????

So what has everyone been doing as the world explodes?

Me, I've been playing ostrich a little and ignoring it as much as the new channels allows me to.. It's hard to ignore when your husband enjoys watching news, but thats ok.  So what have I been doing???? Learning, creating, and trying to ease my anxiety and depression...

Sooo, I purchased a bunch of new glass fusion molds from American Glass. 

And I've made some and have become OBSESSED with these molds. I purchased a bunch of frit, that being said I'm gonna need more.. 

So these are a few pics of the out of the kiln pieces, I need to add the hardware and than they'll be added to my Etsy Shop. 

I've also taken a bunch of Curious Mondo classes online.. Curious Mondo (www.curiousmondo.com) is so cool, its free to watch the live broadcast but if you want to watch it anytime and get the bonus material you pay for the class... I think I've bought 5 or 6 classes during quarintine. 

So here's a few pictures of what I've made from what I've learned from the Curious Mondo class.

Some of these are already in my shop; www.etsy.com/shop/threefatesfiber..

So here's what I've been up to, I'll tell more stories later.. 

what I'm up to..

So here's what I'm up to.. My gloves that I'm making my aunt are frustrating me no end.. I've torn them out about a couple hundred times, and will have to do a new pair because the first glove i finished which fit her well was a mess up and I DON'T REMEMBER HOW I MESSED UP!! so now I need to figure out how to make them small again (She has tiny hands).. Karen I will get them to you.... I started working on my genealogy, finding that VERY addictive.. Told my husband that we'll have to start touring to find relatives and such.. The Beseman - Roseth - Darling family tree..

On top of that I started to make coffee cozies for my craft show at Idexx tomorrow. nothing like procrastinating.. They will be going on etsy after the show along with all my other creations

So hopefully my show tomorrow goes better than my last one.. I've done 2 and this is my last one so far, I may add some although it looks like spring I will be adding more. The kids have all been battling flu's and colds, I opted out of the H1N1 vaccine for them and us, I just don't trust it. I blame my dad and his conspiracy theories :)... oh, I'd better get back to my studio.. more later everyone...

kids first day of school!!!

Shane playing soccer

India on her first day of 1st grade..

shane is going into 4th grade and India 1st.. Sage is a 11/12th grader..

My kids first day of school... yahoo!!!

something I'm working on..

So here's some pictures of a weaving I'm working on....

just some garden pics..

Rain Rain go away...

So it's been rainy off and on since tuesday and though i know we need it and my garden needs it I'd like some sun and warmth. So today in between showers I decided to take some pictures of some of my plants.. They came out pretty cool I thought.. I have to do something to keep my sanity.. I also have so many irons in the studio.. I started 2 blankets for dani's (my sisters) boys and I'm putting some of my crafts to gether for my sister brandy for her shows this summer in minnesota and I need to make MORE products for my shows in the fall, starting in September.. So I have both of my big looms all warped and am working on a scarf (I think, sometimes the final product isn't what I planned) and a rug. I have one rigid heddle loom done up with a scarf (need to finish) and the other rigid I have warped and need to get that off of the loom so that i can bring that one to minnesota and teach my mom to weave. List is endless..

Memorial weekend we went fishing on Monday, first time in years and not a dang nibble, lots of weeds.. It was fun though. On saturday went yard selling with my friends sue and cathy got lost (only people i know that can get turned around and lost with a GPS) and didn't get home until 5ish but SOOO worth it.. It was fun... Sunday we had a BBQ with our friends Suzanne and Blain.. The food was delicious and the companydevine... It was fun... So all in all we had a great weekend, did everything from golf at driving range to fishing...

But now I'm making spaghetti and need to finish it.. So more later!!

pictures

So due to food and gas prices I decided to have a garden and, though these aren't pictures of my vegetable garden, I was having fun taking photos.

I'd forgotten how much I loved gardening. The last time I gardened was about 12 years ago. I'll post some pictures of my vegetable gardens soon.