Inlaid glass

[tompdw]

Has anyone inlaid glass in any project. If so any particular methods of doing it? I heard you put broken glass in the area to be inlaid, put it in the forge and melt it and then let it cool. Is that about right?

[eyrian]

That sounds like (vitreous) enameling, specifically champlev

Edited December 7, 2008 by eyrian

[texasalterna]

my sister is a glass blower, and she has done a few things like this and she puts them in the kiln for a slow cool down to keep the glass from breaking.

[NeatGuy]

The different COE (coeffiecent of expansion) between different glasses and steels will make your results difficult to predict. You may have better luck using glass rods for bead making and lamp work. Wrap the finished item in KAO wool if the glass object is not too large and you do not have a kiln this MAY allow the glass to cool at a slow enough rate.

Forges tend to be on the rich side as steel does not like oxygen, glass likes oxygen. If there is not enough oxygen you glass will devitrify and become cloudy or have faded colours.

Buy some kiln wash from a pottery supply. Coat your steel item with the kiln was an let it dry. This way you can remove the glass part and allow it to cool in a controlled envrioment or KAO wool ... if you can. The glass can be epoxied back into the recess later. This method will also help prevent the different COEs of glass and steel from cracking the glass.

To start and crawl before you run ...
If you use bead making rods heat your steel item in the opening of the forge. do not get it too hot you will know a good temperature when the molten glass sticks to the steel. Use a oxy fuel torch to heat the glass rods when the are a nice orange colour touch the rod to the coated end of the steel if it sticks you can carefully wind it on the steel.

Once you have some success use the same process to fill a cavity you can add miliflori ( tiny sections of extruded patterned glass rods) to embelish your insets.

Take a fusing/slumping or bead/marble making class ... Glass is great fun.

brad

[dablacksmith]

it isnt that easy .. the problem is steel contracts at a different rate than glass ... when glassblowers do things like this they use copper because the contraction and expantion rate is closer . i dod a fair near the glassblowers and we tried a ring with glass blown in it .... it didnt work because too much of the glass touched the iron. good luck!

[Ice Czar]

The different COE (coeffiecent of expansion) between different glasses and steels will make your results difficult to predict.

and a third time ^

Ive done considerable research on enameling as its going to be a very important part of the pieces I've designed.

1. you probably will want a separate kiln for precise temperature control
2. you'll need to source and test various enamels

[Ganoksin] Jewelry Making - Enameling - Metals Suitable for Enameling
Layout of Topics Grouped by Area (kiln design and automation)
Resources for The Enamelist Society - Tools & Supplies
Glass on Metal Magazine - The Enamelist's Magazine

if you want to see some impressive work google image these terms
Basse-taille, Champlev Edited December 8, 2008 by Ice Czar

[tompdw]

Looks like I have a lot to consider. I will do some experimenting and have fun. Thanks guys.

[crij]

There was an article in Hammer Blow (Artist Blacksmith Association of America's magazine) about adding glass to ironwork, IIRC about 1 year ago.

I will try and see if I can find it.

Rich C.

[781]

UMBA Online has a DVD with Ivan Bailey inlaying glass with oxy/propane torch. He split and drifted a bar then placed layers of clear broken glass in the hole with one layer of colored sandwitched inside.
He began heating with a torch from a long distance kind of snuck up on the glass. He said you had to heat slowly or the glass exploded and jumped out of the bar. As the glass heated up he used a plolished ball pien hammer to smooth and compact the glass. Dont remember if he post heated or not.

I also watched a local smith melt a marble into a hole in a bar with a gas forge.