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From the moment I touched glass to make my first piece of
fused glass art, I knew I had found a medium that truly spoke to me.
The controlled process of constructing a piece combined with the
surprising effect that the firing produced just felt right to me.
Glass is like a child…at times unpredictable, but always delightful.
Because of the way that glass heats, expands, and melts, each firing can
produce unique and unexpected results.
I particularly like making twizzles where I heat strips of
glass over a propane torch and then pull and twist the molten glass into
squiggles, corkscrews and fine threads. The twizzles add a wonderful
touch to many of my designs.
I feel very lucky to have found an
artistic outlet that gives me such pleasure. I hope that you will
share that pleasure each time you wear or use one of my creations.
~Carolyn
Korman ~
I work with many types of glass, including cathedral
glass which you can see through, opalescent glass which is more opaque,
iridized glass which has a slight shine to it, and dichroic glass which
produces a vibrant color full of sparkle. Dichroic glass is commonly used in
jewelry and occasionally in other types of fused glass pieces. Dichroic literally means “two
colors”. This type of glass
appears to be one color from one angle or when looked through, and another
color from another angle.
Along with the frits (chunks of glass) and stringers (rods of
glass) that I use to enhance my work, I also make “twizzles”, using a torch to
heat glass and then pulling and twisting the molten glass into
squiggles.
To make each item, I hand-cut individual pieces of glass and
assemble them in layers according to my design. I then fire them in a
kiln, where the temperature is slowly brought to as high as 1500
degrees and then slowly cooled, or annealed, for strength and durability.
This firing process takes as long as 12 hours. All pieces go through
multiple firings. Plates, bowls, and home décor items are laid on a
mold and reheated to slump into their final shape. Most jewelry is
hand-ground to its final shape then fired one last time to achieve a
polished finish.
Most items I make are topped off by clear glass, giving an
appearance of depth to the item. Others, however, are bare, showing
the texture and uniqueness of the iridized or dichroic glass with which I
work. I use this type of fusing procedure to preserve the
dimensional nature of the layers of glass used to create the final
piece.
I use only the finest materials to finish my
work. Earring bails, ear wires, pendant bails and the clasps on the rubber
cords are either sterling silver, sterling silver plated or 24K gold plated.
Lever backs and earposts
are surgical steel. Earposts come with comfort disks (large circles to hold the
earring comfortably in place).
All pieces are lead free. To
clean the glass, handwashing is recommended. |
