My Tutorials

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Materials required: Safety Glasses, Glass Cutter, ScoreStik, Running Pliers, Container of mild soapy water, Paper Towel, Plastic Spoon, Tweezers, Special Glass Glue (Glastac), 2mm sheet of System 96 Glass, 96coe Glass Frit and 3mm Round-cut Cubic Zirconias.

Image 1 : Wearing her safety glasses, she cuts the 2mm sheet of glass using the glass cutter and scorestik for straight lines.

Image 2-3 : Once scored, she breaks the glass apart using a pair of running pliers.

Image 4-6 : The glass is then cleaned in the mild soapy water and dried with the paper towel.

Image 7-8 : Pearl builds the base of the piece with borders holding them in place with some 'glue'.

Image 9-11 : She then fills the void within the borders with glass frit and cubic zirconias, holding them in place with some more 'glue'.

Image 12 : The base is then capped with another piece of 2mm glass and is left to dry.

Materials Required : pair of didymium safety glasses, scissors, Thin Fire (Fibre paper), pair of cotton gloves, blusher brush and the Microwave Kiln.

Image 13 : When the piece is dried, it’s placed on a sheet of Thin Fire paper in the middle of the Microwave Kiln.

Image 14-16 : Pearl puts the kiln in the microwave and sets it initially for 3 minutes (warm-up stage) on medium power. At this stage she listens out for any unusual popping sounds. If there is a pop, she’ll stop the microwave and have a look to make sure that the glass piece has not jumped out of place. This can occur when the glass used is not compatible with each other.

Image 18-20 : After the 3 minutes, wearing the pair of cotton gloves, Pearl has a quick check and then sets it for another 5 minutes on medium power (warming stage). After the 5 minutes, she places it on another 2 to 3 minutes on high (heating stage). At this stage, Pearl looks out for the glow that would appear through the spy hold.

Image 21-22 : When the glow appears, Pearl removes the ‘kiln’ and wearing the pair of didymium safety glasses, she looks through the spy hole at the glowing molten glass. She judges to what extent she would like the glass to be melted to. If she decides that the edges of the piece aren’t melted enough, she would place the kiln back into the microwave and repeat the process.

Images 23-25 : When Pearl decides that the piece has been melted down enough, she takes it out and sets it on a fire-resistant board and places it back into the microwave oven to let it cool slowly to room temperature. This process can take between ½ hour and 2 hours depending on the size of the piece.

Image 26-27 : When the fired piece is cool enough to touch, using the brush, the remainder of the fibre paper is brushed away and the piece is cleaned, ready for cold-working.