Multicoloured Nuggets

[nansea121]

Here is my note that I made to Anne in the Beachglass Lantern thread #39.

''I make nuggets by stacking up squares to. The multi coloured ones remind me of marbles. It's an experiment to see how one colour reacts to another when stacked together. Like a yellow and light blue turns an interesting green. It all depends on how it slumps down in the kiln. You never know what you get. Some will be duds, but that's part of the fun to:)  

Word of warning tho, after it's made into bars, it's hard to cut those suckers into small pieces!!! What I end up with doing is use my running pliers and whack the end with a big hammer. After doing several bars that way, the plastic replaceable tips on the runners are worn away and I have to replace them. The small chunks of glass are sometimes irregular with makes even more intersting shapes when stood on end. Save the glass crumbles to 'cause they make wonderful multicoloured frit:)

Here's a pic of how I make those nuggets. I use the red handles Pro runners to crack into chunks...not those small green ones show there.''

First pic is one that I posted earlier to Anne. If anybody knows how I can make smaller chunks out of those fused bars, I'd be eternally grateful!!!! :)

[nansea121]

Here are some pics of how Dan has made them.

You can stagger the glass stacks or make up in long bars into whatever length that will fit in your kiln.

[Becki]

Nancy, why are you making a bar first?  It's obviously working for you but seems like alot of work to cut and you have extra firings.  If you like the irregular shape why not just stack random small scraps on the shelf and fire?  You can do this with single layer of small scrap too.  I make small dots with alot of my scrap...I just nip off small (1/4") squares with my wheeled nippers and fire them into perfect little round dots!  You can do it with irregular small scrap too for some interesting shapes.  

Just saw your second batch of pics...you're basically making a kind of pattern bar first and that is tough to cut without using a saw!  Just depends on the look you want but, like I said, it's working for you!

[nansea121]

Hi Becki:)  I make the stacked bars first to fuse the colours together. Then when the bars are cut up, they're placed on end and fused again to expose all the colours.

I never tried fusing all the single layers on end first tho! Maybe gluing the layers together and then fusing....mmmm! I'll try that next time! Thank you!

Here's some pics of how were were making them.

[nansea121]

Here are what they look like after the second firing. The last pic shows a close up of an example in one of my shades.

[Becki]

I see!  I'm not sure how the single layers would work on end...too much glue could be a problem.  I see what you're going for now and if it ain't broke you may not want to fix it! 

[nansea121]

I'll try that idea Becki of fusing the glass layers on end (glued together probably?) I'm wondering if that will still produce some swirls tho. I like the staggered stack idea, you can get some interesting colour combinations that way.

[Becki]

You certainly do!  I think you're doing a wonderful job!

[nansea121]

I see!  I'm not sure how the single layers would work on end...too much glue could be a problem.  I see what you're going for now and if it ain't broke you may not want to fix it!  

I'd like to give your idea s shot. Just a wee dab of fusing glue or hairspray between the layers? How does too much glue cause a problem...glue marks?
I'm new with the kiln so this sort of thing is really fun:)

[Becki]

Too much glue can cloud the glass or leave strange marks.  Just a little dab will do ya!  The only problem I can see with the smaller single layers on end would be that, unless you dam them, the glue will burn out before they fuse together and leave you with blobs instead of nuggets!  It might be worth a little experiment!

[nansea121]

For sure I'll try that idea and will post pics of the results:)

[Amber]

Wow, wow wow! Those sure are purdy *smiles*. I also can't believe how precisely you arranged all the pieces for the first picture  .

[Kev]

Nancy, one option for cutting the bars is a wet saw used for cutting tiles. They are not expensive and will easily cut through the bars.

[ct4mom]

Those are so cool Nancy,  Another thing I can play with with my new toy.

[Kev]

I think I will give these a try as well.

[Bleedy Pokes]

To my newbie eyes, that seems like a lot of work for nuggets! But such awesome results; you sure can't pick up those nuggets in a bag at the craft store!

I wonder if you could stack textured glass to trap intentional bubbles into a nugget? That might look cool... or maybe a complete flop.

[Kev]

You can get "Bubble Powder" that you can sprinkle between the layers of glass to intentionally get bubbles.

[Tre V]

                                  I want a kiln! I want a kiln!

[PiscesGlass]

Oh, these are so cool and even kilnless I am getting some good information about how to make your own glass globs..maybe I'll have one someday.   

I'm not sure I'm ever going to be happy again with what I have available for globs..lol. 

They sure are pretty Nansea!  Love all the swirls and colors in them.

Thanks for starting the thread! I can see that idea's are being generated all over the place.

De

[Alan]

                                  I want a kiln! I want a kiln!

Oh NO! Another one headed for the dark side!