Fusing/Kiln Working

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Fusing Fundamentals

Want something more than a Party of Four? Want to learn more about glass during a four-hour class? Here’s your chance to learn the fundamentals of glass fusing in a four hour workshop which will give you an overview of the technical processes and tools that are used to fuse glass in a kiln.  This course is for the students who are interested in learning more about the fusing, slumping, and kilnforming of glass as you create a plate, tile, sun catchers or coasters. Your instructor will take you step by step from start to finish of your piece so that you will have a more complete understanding of glassworking in the kiln.  So what are you waiting for? Register today for some fusing fun!
 
Fee: $130
Pre-requisite: None.
Min. # of students: 3
Max. # of students: 6
Click here to sign  up

Date  

March 24 April 21 

Time

12pm - 4pm
12pm - 4pm

Instructor

A. Zilber
A. Zilber

"Party of 4"  

Are you and your friends bored?  Raining and nothing to do?  Party of 4 is a 2 hour class designed for 2 couples or 4 friends looking to do something really different and exciting in an environment that allows them to talk, laugh and basically, have a great time!  This class is designed for groups of 4 only. 

Fee: $180
Pre-requisite: None
Min # of 4 person groups : 2
Max # of 4 person groups : 2
Click here to sign up

Fusing Glass 1A

Learn how to make beautiful fused glass in this fun and technical workshop.   You'll be introduced kilnformed glass through a variety of projects -- full fusing layers of glass, tack fusing,  making pattern bars, to slumping.   You will learn how to cut and grind glass, how work with compatible fusing glass, and how to fire your glass projects.  The goal of this class is a solid foundation on kilnformed glass so that you'll be able to begin to work on your own with these techniques.  Explore your creativity with glass in this four day workshop.

Fee: $300
Pre-requisite: None
Min.# of students: 3
Max. # of students: 6
Click here to sign  up

Date  

May 21, 23, 28, & 30

Time

6pm - 10pm

Instructor

J. Schmuck

Fusing Glass 1B

Want to do all those cool things that we only hinted at in Fusing 1a -- doing high fires and pot melts and flow slabs, making strip work, and  working with reactive glasses?  Then Fusing 1b will be for you.  In this course we'll explore some of the more advanced processes of fusing and show you how to pull off successful results when using these techniques.  We will also consider design elements as well as looking at multi-stage slumping. Your own special interests can also help determine the content of this class.  Take your kiln work to the next level in this four-day workshop.

Fee: $300
Pre-requisite: None
Min.# of students: 3
Max. # of students: 6
Click here to sign  up

Date  

Mar 19, 21, 26 & 28
June 4, 6, 11 & 13

Time

6pm - 10pm

6pm - 10pm

Instructor

J. Schmuck

J. Schmuck

MARVELOUS MARBLES

Ever had that feeling of losing your marbles?  Ever wonder where the heck they go?  In our new marble course you'll find out that it doesn't really matter where they've gone because you'll learn how to make your own!

We will be using compatible colored fusing glass that you will arrange and then take into the hot shop to heat and form marbles with.  We will look at different ways to manipulate the color patterns in the marbles so each one is tremendously unique.   In just a few short hours you'll have the basic techniques and skills to make marbles for the rest of your life.

An undestanding of basic glass cutting and glass fusing techniques is all you need for this class.


Fee: $350
Pre-requisite: Basic fusing skills
Min.# of students: 3
Max. # of students: 6
Click here to sign  up

Date  

TBA

Time

9am-5pm

Instructor

J. Schmuck

Friday Night Fusing  Fest – Finish Your Piece  

Come in and finish your piece  during our Friday Night Fusing Fest. This will be the place to receive some  guidance and support to fire your piece all in one short evening.   

From 6pm to 9pm  you'll receive personalized tutoring from Johnathon Schmuck  (our fusing and coldworking wiz) regarding how to assemble, coldwork,  and  fire all your pieces that have been sitting around for way too long.  You'll bring your own glass to use and have full access to all the good fusing and coldworking tools, expert technical and aesthetic instruction, and a chance to develop the proper firing schedule for your piece which will then be fired that very evening.   Together we'll troubleshoot your kilnforming issues and work through your ideas so your work can come to life. 

Fee:  $75
Pre-requisite:  Fusing 1A
Min. # of students: 3
Max. # of students:  6
Click here to sign up  

Date

TBA

Time

7pm - 10pm

Instructor

J. Schmuck

Australian-Style Roll Up: Blowing Fused Glass  

This course will introduce a hot, third dimension to kiln-formed work. The class  will work in the “Australian Roll-Up” process -- a technique where a pre-fused glass tile is picked up on a blowpipe, closed into a bubble, and blown and manipulated into a vessel and/or sculptural form. We will design and create two tiles of glass that will then be brought into the hot shop where the students will act as the “designer” and either assist the instructor in blowing their piece, or if the student is a glassblower, blow their own piece. The first day of class will be spent creating the kiln worked tiles that will be fused and ready to be blown in the hot shop on days 2 of the class. With the hot-shop skills learned, kiln working students will have the knowledge and experience to continue to work with a gaffer (glassblower) to have their designs created in a hot shop. Students who already blow glass will learn a  remarkable new technique that they can utilize in the hot shop without the need for a glass furnace.
 
Fee: $475
Pre-requisite: Some Fusing 1A or Glassblowing 1A or equivalent
Min # students: 3
Max # of students: 6
Click here to sign up

Date  

May 26, June 1 & 2

Time

9am - 5pm

Instructor

J. Schmuck

Glass Jewelry, a Comprehensive Overview

We will explore what it is about glass that is an ideal material for making jewelry.  The course will be an action-packed five hours -- we'll be making a variety of small glass jewelry pieces that will be fired in different ways.   

During the class, we will examine the qualities of opaque and transparent colors, work with dichroic glass, explore the range of fusing temperatures, do some metal inclusions, and get some practice with different techniques to attach the glass to metal and the rest of the jewelry piece.    We’ll look at some coldworking processes – from drilling the glass to edging it to cutting it up and re-firing it -- and make the glass turn into a real jewel.  

Students will end up with several beautiful pieces of glass jewelry and a good understanding of how to use it in their own work.

Fee: $120
Pre-requisite:  Fusing 1A or equivalent.
MIn. # of students: 3
Max.  # of students: 6
Click here to sign up

Date

May 25

Time

9am - 2pm

Instructor

J. Schmuck

Higher Fire

See what happens to Bullseye sheet glass when it is super heated in the kiln. We will spend our first day doing our high fire --prepping the shelves and building up a safe and effective dam system to hold the molten glass, and we will set up ceramic pots for aperture-pour ‘pot melts’. 

Our focus will be on design and depth and color combinations as we fill our reservoir moulds with glass for melting.  Fusing cycles for this sort of work will be examined and kiln safety will also be addressed. The second day will focus on how best to utilize these pieces for secondary firings and the necessary coldworking to facilitate your designs.

Fee: $240
Pre-requisite: Fusing 1A or equivalent
Min. # of students: 3
Max. # of students: 6
Click here to sign  up

Date  

June 15 &  22

Time

10am-2pm

Instructor

J. Schmuck

Glory Hole and Kiln Forming 

NOTE: TO SIGN-UP FOR THIS CLASS PLEASE DO SO UNDER GLASSBLOWING CLASSES.
We will use hot working techniques with the fusible sheet glass to produce some unique patterns and designs in our glass. Glass bundles and tiles will be manipulated in the glory hole to form color twists, overlays, fold overs, and murrinis. We will then take the hot-manipulated parts to the kiln where they will become the starting point for making larger fused pieces. This process is a way to make some very interesting and unique kiln formed glass.

Fee: $375
Pre-requisite: Fusing 1A, Glassblowing 1A or equivalent
Min # students: 3
Max. # of students: 6
Click here to sign up

Date  

TBA

Time

9am - 5pm

Instructor

J. Schmuck

Murrini Weekend 

NOTE: TO SIGN-UP FOR THIS CLASS PLEASE DO SO UNDER GLASSBLOWING CLASSES.
We  will have two days of working in the studio, beginning with making bundled murrinis in the glory hole while kilnforming more complex murrini designs which  will be pulled the second day.  We will cut up the pulls from our first day  and arrange them in the kiln for further firing. This class will demonstrate how  to make these hot-worked and kilnformed elements and how to use them in a  secondary firing with all the attendant coldworking. We will also examine the characteristics of working in the glory hole and the kiln to form these different decorative parts and how to easily utilize these processes in your work.

Fee: $350
Pre-requisite: Fusing 1A, Glassblowing 1A or equivalent
Min. # students: 3
Max. # of students: 6
Click here to signup

Date  

April 27 & April 28

Time

9am - 5pm

Instructor

J. Schmuck

Strictly Strips 

A six-hour session will be spent exploring strip construction. This technique, where designs are built up by placing glass strips on edge, is a wonderful process for arranging designs in an even and orderly manner and of building large color fields with a lot of subtlety and nuance. You will learn methods for uniform strip cutting using a variety of tools.  We will discuss block patterns, “window” making, working with stripes, and geometrics.

Fee: $210
Pre-requisite: Fusing 1A or equivalent
Min. # of students: 3
Max. # of students: 6
Click here to sign  up

Date 

June 8        

Time

10am - 5pm

Instructor

J. Schmuck

Reactive!!!  

During our 4-hour session we’ll utilize the color-reactive Bullseye Glass Co. glasses, where the interface of two glasses produces a dark outline. Chemical reactions between some of the components of different colors makes for a thin dark line when fired properly, giving the work a graphic look. And the French Vanilla does something completely different. We’ll also explore some of the special "ice" and "cloud" reactive glasses, new from Bullseye. This is really fun stuff because it allows you to do a line drawing within the context of using colored glass.

Fee: $120
Pre-requisite: Fusing 1A or equivalent
Min. # of students: 3
Max # of students: 6
Click here to sign  up

Date 

June 14

Time

6pm - 10pm

Instructor

J. Schmuck
Picture

 Imagine Imagery

Bringing imagery into fused glass is an important way to add content and interest to your work.  We'll be exploring some "fired applications", meaning that they'll become a permanent part of the glass after it's been fired in the kiln.  During our time together, we'll try powder drawings, some glass paints, and laser transfer decals.   Learning these three basic processes will be a first step in opening up new modes of expression for your glassmaking.
 
Fee: $225
Pre-requisite: Fusing 1A or equivalent
Min. # of students: 3
Max # of students: 6
Click here to sign  up

Date

June 9

Time

9am-5pm

Instructor

J. Schmuck

 Rock Science 101

_NOTE: TO SIGN-UP FOR THIS CLASS PLEASE DO SO UNDER GLASSBLOWING CLASSES.
The natural world is an endless source of study and reflection for art.  The desire to suss out the essence of natural items by making them in glass has a long historical tradition.  With the advent of fusing-compatible glass, the emulation of the complex world of stones, rocks, and gems, is achievable by patterning combinations of opaque and transparent glass.

Our class will be about exploring that world -- we’ll work directly in the kiln, the glory hole, and the coldshop to develop your ideas and aesthetics. We’ll be using sheet glass and fragments to build up and fire all sorts of interesting fused things and some hot worked bundles of sheet glass to make twisted manipulations and murrinis in the glory hole.  Two kiln firings will enhance and juxtapose elements within our designs and cold working will give us the textures and smooth finish that will complete our work. Our goal will be to make a set of glass stones that embody the the soul of our favorite rocks while giving us ample time to fully understand the lessons and terranes of our exploration.

Fee: $350
Pre-requisite: Fusing 1A, Glassblowing 1A or equivalent
Min. # of students: 3
Max # of students: 6
Click here to sign  up

Date

TBA

Time

9am-5pm

Instructor

J. Schmuck
To Register: Either register online, call 408-993-2244, or send an e-mail to studio@bagi.org. Payment is required upon registration. We accept Visa, MasterCard & personal checks if received 2 weeks prior to the scheduled class.
Cancellation Policy: Cancellations made at 7 days prior to the first day of a class will receive a 100% refund. Cancellations made 3 days prior to the first day of class will be issued a 50% refund. In the event that BAGI were to cancel a class(es) a full refund, for the class(es) will be issued.
Liability: Students must be 9+ years of age for glassblowing related classes. Students must be 12+ years of age for flameworking & kilnworking related classes. Students under the age of 18 must have a parent or legal guardian sign a BAGI issued liability release form. Students must inform BAGI, at the time of registration, if they have special requirements due to health related conditions.