Warning: Glass is Addictive! Creating fused glass with photographic decals

Today I’m excited to introduce our first guest here on Viewfinders, a long-time friend of mine from Philadelphia, Joan Phillips. Joan is a photographer turned mixed-media artist who has devoted both her personal and professional life to the arts! She started her career with a degree in photography from the Philadelphia Institute of the Arts by shooting weddings, but then switched gears to supporting various arts organizations after getting a master’s degree in Arts and Cultural Management from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. As long as I’ve known Joan, she’s either been shooting, crafting, encaustic painting or creating some other form of art. Joan is also working on becoming certified as a creative coach! I’m happy to tell you that if you’re in a creative rut, Joan’s the lady to see! She’s been helping me to expand my own creativity for years, and I’m thrilled that she’s going to make it official. I hope you enjoy learning from Joan today, as much as I have!

Four years ago, I discovered glass when I became the Director of a glass studio, and I never could have imagined how my photography would change as a result of working with this amazing medium ! I was never great at 3-dimensional art forms, so glass blowing and creating beads on a torch was not for me, but as it turned out, fusing was right up my alley. I started using color cut glass and glass powder to create imagery before fusing -melting- it all together. This is a magical process. There is such anticipation and excitement in going to the kiln after 24 hours and seeing what has happened. I took a class with Martha Pfanschmidt at Bullseye Glass and learned how to get dimension into my fusing by painting with glass powder on separate glass pieces before fusing them together, cutting them apart and then creating new imagery by layering the glass in two and four layers. Then, imagine my excitement when I discovered using photo decals, which do the same thing without all the extra steps! This process has given my photographs clarity, permanence and dimension.

Glass is easy, but it has some rules that you need to follow, and it can be technical. If you have never created with fused glass, I suggest taking a beginning course first to learn basic fusing techniques before trying photographic decals. The decal process is easy and fun, and I am going to share a simple breakdown of the process here along with some website links for more information.

Materials
• Use of a glass kiln
• Glass (COE 90, COE 96 or Float Glass)
• Special glass photo decals
• Bowl of Warm Water

STEPS

First, have your photo decals printed. I use Decals 4 Artists (discount code at the end of the post), and they come on a sheet that is 10 x 15.5 inches.  You can place as many images on the sheet that will fit. The decals are printed with pulverized frit (glass), not ink, and because of this, certain colors are not possible to use. When you receive your decals, don’t panic! The colors are supposed to look a little strange, and once fused, will look more normal. Also, keep in mind that anything white will take on the color of your glass.

Getting the images on the glass is easy: just take a bowl of warm water, submerge the decal in the water, and then wait until it separates from the background paper. Then take the decal and place it on the glass. I usually let it dry for 24 hours.

Next, follow the instructions for fusing the image onto the glass in the kiln. Once out of the kiln, your piece will be finished, or you can use it in another fused piece. I took the cattle skull (above) and layered it amongst a few different layers of glass for a more detailed and textural look (below).

You can see that once layered, what was white in the image has now picked up the color behind it.

The possibilities of creating with glass are truly endless! I used my Photoshop skills to pull the tower (below) out of a complete landscape.

I have also created sun catchers and tiles, some of my favorite items to create!

If you don’t have the use of a glass kiln, you can check out non-heat Lazertran decals, where a photocopy or a laser or inkjet printer is used instead to create your color images instead of decals. The process of getting the image onto the glass is the same, but it doesn’t actually become a part of the glass, so it’s not as permanent as fusing.

Glass is an addictive medium, and although I am no longer at the glass studio, I continue to love glass. The dimensional quality and random air bubbles are my favorite part of the process. Embrace the bubbles! I hope you’ve enjoyed learning a new way to use your photography today and consider giving fusing images to glass a try. I know that if you give it a chance, you’ll be hooked on fusing your images to glass too!

The good people at Decals 4 Artists are giving Viewfinders readers a special $5 discount off your first sheet of decals! Just use the code STUDENT to get the deal.

Websites

Photo Decal Printing: http://www.decals4artists.com
Use the special discount word: STUDENT and receive $5 off your first sheet
Samples of Decals on Glass. These are the artists who print the decals: http://www.inplainsightart.com/
Supplies, Instruction, in-person or online: http://www.bullseyeglass.com/
Martha Pfanschmidt: www.pfanschmidt.com
Lazertran: http://lazertran.com/

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Joan Phillips received a Bachelor’s degree of Fine Arts in Photography from the University of Arts in Philadelphia,PA and a Master’s degree of Professional Studies in Arts and Cultural Management from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY.

Born and raised in Philadelphia, she decided it was a time for a change of scenery, and in September of 2011 she moved to California to begin working in the San Jose arts sector. Joan currently resides in Fremont, CA where she continues to work in the CA Bay Area arts sector, will be a certified Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coach at the end of July and creates mixed media art projects.

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