Special Canes for Not Anymore

A DRAFT to be finalized in November 2005
 

Creating the Canes for my Fused Glass       October 2005  

Usually, when I make the tree branches, I place a crucible in a wall hanging Kiln that has a bottom hole, from which the molten glass drops. Within the Kiln, I place Bulls Eye Glass Frits, either monochrome, or a mixed of frits to achieve a particular color.

For snow on black branches, I juxtapose, vertically in the crucible White and Black frits. This results in a rod with the 2 colors creating the effect of snow on the branches. With the flame, I pull the branches to the desired thinness.

If I want I want to place snow on non-black branches, the opaque color alone cannot give the desired effect, because the thin rods needed for my fused technique will not allow seeing the transparent colors. I solved the problem through an elaborate technique that results in a Special Cane: its core is made of colored opaque glass surrounded by clear colored glass. These canes cannot be made in the crucible. In order to control the thickness of both opaque and clear glass, I use the flame to make a sphere with an opaque core surrounded by the transparent glass. This sphere is pulled as short canes that I juxtapose as branches, then lay over them the opaque white to create the snow effect

I have used this special cane technique for the first time in my 2005 Saw, Not Anymore, you can appreciate the effect on the thin red branches on the lower left corner. Another  special aspect of that piece is the use of Blue Aventurine Bulls Eye Rods at the top part of the scenery