There are several stages:
- First a design! That's the most difficult part. And there's plenty of experimentation.
- Once I have a design, I must cut all the individual elements (glass pieces). Each piece of colour in a fused/slumped item is a separate piece of glass. Some of my works have over 100 pieces!
- I have to hand clean all the pieces and then tack glue them into position.
- For fusing, I put the assembled items in the kiln for about 22 hours, up to about 800 degrees Celcius.
- I then take the fused pieces out, clean them, inspect them and put them back in the kiln for slumping. I place each one on its mold. This process takes about the same time and temperature as the fusing. So, each piece has nearly two days in the kiln.
- I then take out the finished glass and inspect it again. If it's OK with no major flaws, then another wash, my logo sticker and it's ready to sell.
- So I need to cover the costs of all my materials and equipment. The glass is special for the purpose and imported from USA. Then ther are the 'overheads': the electricity bill(!) and all the usuals like transport, phone, web site, etc etc.
- And I want to make some money for my efforts and so do the shops who promotoe, display and sell for me!