When an artist begins working with kiln-fired glass, their firing schedules typically focus on two main outcomes – firing glass to a full fuse to “melt” (or fuse) all glass pieces together and firing at a lower temperature to shape the glass. Full fuse temperatures generally range from 1450 to 1500 degrees Fahrenheit. Slumping temperatures are generally between 1100 and 1250 degrees Fahrenheit. Above 1250 degrees Fahrenheit, the glass begins to soften beyond what is needed for bending the glass to shape during a slump or drape. Temperatures greater than 1250 are high enough to sinter powders ..read more

Glass products for fused glass come in many forms. One of the forms I enjoy working with is glass enamels. Enamels are finely ground colored glass or clear glass and pigments suspended in a liquid medium. They are used to paint the glass surface, and they allow you to create color blends, shapes, and designs that you might not otherwise be able to create with sheet glass. When working with enamels, one of the biggest considerations is overcoming surface tension. A good example of surface tension is the tendency of water to bead up when dripped on a flat, smooth surface. If you have worked wi ..read more

In November 2019 I created my first holiday angel ornament. At the time, I didn't intend for the angels to become an Annual Event, it just seems to have worked out that way. When I am preparing for holiday shows the angels somehow show up on my To Do List. I enjoy making them, and I think others like them too.  I do go into a bit of a production mode when creating these, which is unusual for me (when you're making 40-60 angels it's a necessity!). But for the most part, each ornament is different. They are all created from the same general design, but I try to choose a few different ..read more

Close-up, Yellow Monkey Flower Wall Hanging One of the challenges with creating fused glass wall art is finding a way to hang the finished piece. This is especially tricky when preparing art for hanging in a gallery. To avoid putting holes in the walls, most galleries use a rail and hook system. This method works well for framed paintings but it can be a challenge for glass art. In this blog post, I'll highlight two ways I use for hanging my art that work with a variety of hanging systems, including rail and hook. Both methods use picture hanging wire, but one method incorporates a h ..read more

In the fused glass world there is a mantra, "Never refuse to refuse." It's a catchy phrase, but I think it is often bad advice. I am not talking about the times when your painting needs additional highlights or line work, the powder fired too light in color, or one more design element will complete the composition. I am talking about things that go wrong. You drop a favorite (and expensive) piece of glass and it breaks into pieces. Your glass thermal shocks during firing. The layup of your design results in a large bubble. You know, the things that we, as glass artists (and likely many non ..read more

  The Glass Art Guild of Utah is pleased to be invited to the Brigham City Museum of Art & History for an exhibit that runs through April 15. Along with historical exhibits, the museum strives to highlight the art and creativity of Utah’s many talented artists. The Glass Art Guild was invited as part of the museum’s on-going efforts to recognize those creating in craft as fine art. The exhibit features glass art created by several of the Guild’s talented artists. It was juried by William Littig, a Salt Lake City-based artist working in stained glass and public art for over 50 years ..read more

I can hardly believe that fall has arrived in Cache Valley. This past week, we logged winds of 60 mph in my neighborhood and 97 mph on one of our local mountain peaks. It certainly seems like our summer has literally and figuratively blown away on the breeze! With limited opportunities for enjoying art at museums and galleries, I wanted to share a small booklet I created called, "Bloom, exhibition in print". It includes musings on my creativity these past few months, along with some of the art I created during this time. The art glass pieces shown in the booklet are currently available at t ..read more

Spring has arrived in Northern Utah. Daffodils and other early bulbs are beginning to bloom and the warmer-season songbirds are beginning to arrive at our feeder. It's also the time of year I start thinking about ways to add color to the garden with glass art. I thought it would be fun to create some garden mushrooms. I took a few pictures when putting the mushrooms together, so I thought I would share them in a quick blog post. One of the unique things about how these pieces are assembled is that the mushroom cap is removable from the stem. This makes them easier to pack and ship, and safer ..read more

Mahogany Canyon, North Logan, UT In this time of crazy uncertainty, I am grateful that the foothills of Northern Utah are just outside my door. After a morning of "sheltering in place" while working from home, I took a walk up a dirt road beside our house. Most of the land on either side of the road is private property that is dry-farmed. If you walk about two miles up the road, you will eventually reach forest service land. The walk offers an easy escape into nature. We are just beginning to hint at spring here. In the mornings I hear robins and meadow larks singing and spring bulb ..read more

Invisibility, Dana Worley 2020 With this piece it was important that  the black glass be perfectly smooth I've written before about bubbles. With fused glass art, sometimes we love them and sometimes we don't. In this post, I'll share a firing schedule for the bubble squeeze I use to help mitigate bubbles in my art. When fusing together two pieces of glass larger than 3 to 5 inches, the two layers of glass will often trap medium-sized bubbles. These bubbles aren't large enough to affect the integrity of the art by rising to the surface and becoming thin, but they do visually af ..read more