How to Make Glass Lace from Glass Frit

How to make Glass Lace from Glass Frit

By: Ann Sanborn

Making Glass Lace from Glass Frit to add a very beautiful embellishment to your artwork is fairly simple but messy.

1. We recommend using a Thick shelf paper versus using Thin Fire in your kiln so that you can slide it off the shelf in one piece.
2. This is one time that you could use more than one shelf in your kiln. You can make glass frit on the bottom shelf and your normal fusible glass items on the top shelf. You could also have several shelves being used to create glass lace from glass frit. Remember your glass is dispersed over a large surface versus one large piece of glass when calculating temperatures.
3. Place the smoothest side of the thick fiber paper up and then sprinkle your frit over the entire surface. We suggest moving left to right and down and then repeat top to bottom and right. This will create a grid effect and evenly disperse the frit without creating piles of concentrated frit.
4. Run a toothpick thru the frit in a zigzag motion on any areas where the frit is concentrated into piles.
5. Run kiln at a full fuse. Annealing is less sensitive than normal glass firings because the frit is so dispersed. You can simply turn the kiln off after the full fuse cycle has been run.

Removing and Storing your Glass Lace:

1. If you can, remove the entire shelf from the kiln after the frit has cooled to room temperature.
2. If you can "not" remove the entire shelf, lift the thick fiber paper and slide either a very thick piece of paper, paper plate or a flexible piece of cardboard under for support.
3. You can try to pick up the glass lace by hand but it is very delicate. You will need to store it on a non flexible surface until you are ready to use it.
4. Take all of the glass balls that are loose and save them in a container for later use.

Avoid doing the following:

• Do not have piles of frit.
• Do not sprinkle all the way out to the edge of the thick fiber paper, leave a border of at least a 1/2 inch.
• Do not sprinkle any on the floor of your kiln.

Using your Glass Lace:

1. It is best to use it right away since it is so delicate and breakable.
2. It can be tack fused or full fused for less surface texture.
3. Make sure to position on the glass at least 1/4 inch from the edges to avoid the need to grind later.
4. If you are using on a single layer of glass you may find that it creates an uneven surface on the other side of the glass.
5. It works best on a multilayer of glass.