Spiroglass

Fusing glass offers a huge range of possibilities and the ever increasing range of new products and techniques means there is always something new to try. However, every now and then you think to yourself ‘I wonder if’ and you go off on your own journey of experimentation.

Recently I’ve been messing about with Glassline fusible paints, trying some techniques that might be suitable for my jewellery. Using etching stickers and the paint produces designs as seen in my Flowers collection of pendants.

Another way of using fusible paints, or other mediums like glass powder, is a technique called Sgraffito (or Scraffito). The chosen medium is layered onto the base glass and a design is ‘scratched’ through revealing the base colour and thus providing the outline.

Hands up all those people who remember Spirograph! I recently re-discovered this childhood toy and all the fabulous designs you can draw with those little plastic rings and discs. Here’s where I had my ‘I wonder if’ moment – I thought how great would it be if I could draw these same designs using the Sgraffito technique using fusible paints. Let the experimentation begin!

Normally, you would securely fix the Spirograph rings onto a sheet of drawing paper by pushing pins into a piece of corrugated cardboard beneath.

Obviously you can’t push a pin into glass, so I came up with a system of fitting the glass into a hole cut in the cardboard. By using some of the other Spirograph pieces, I was then able to secure the ring, then it was just a case of using the desired discs to scratch the design onto the dried paint that I’d previously applied to my glass – a dried-up ballpoint pen works brilliantly.

Needless to say there was a bit of trial and error. If the paint was too thick it would chip as you drew the design and if the paint was not dry enough the disc would drag across everything and distort the design.

Eventually I found a winning combination – a simple design, paint sponged on in thin layers and black glass as the base to highlight the design. Now I’m sure over the coming months, there will be more tweaking and experimentation to use this technique for jewellery but my ‘I wonder if’ has definitely become a ‘yes it can’ and I’m rather pleased with the results.