Fusing/Kiln Working

Sign-up for Fusing/Kiln Working Classes Online!

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  

Feb 5
Mar 25
Apr 22
May 20

Time

12pm - 4pm
12pm - 4pm
10am - 2pm
12pm - 4pm

Instructor

A. Zilber
A. Zilber
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/1B

Learn how to make beautiful kiln worked glass in this fun, non-technical workshop! This class is to introduce you to the glass fusing process by melting layers of glass in a kiln. The goal of this class is to show you how easy and fun it is to make beautiful kiln fired items. You will learn the basics of how to cut glass and be introduced to basic tools, glass selection and firing techniques. Explore your creative and artistic abilities in this 4 day workshop.

Fee: $300
Pre-requisite: None
Min.# of students: 2
Max. # of students: 6
Click here to sign  up

Date  

Feb 13, 15, 20, 22

Mar 6, 8, 13, 15

Apr 16, 18, 23, 25

May 7, 9, 14, 16

Time

6pm - 10pm

6pm - 10pm

6pm - 10pm

6pm - 10pm

Instructor

J. Schmuck

J. Schmuck

J. Schmuck

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 7pm to 10pm  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

Mar 9

Mar 30

Apr 20

Time

7pm - 10pm

7pm - 10pm

7pm - 10pm

Instructor

J. Schmuck

J. Schmuck

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

Date  

Mar 18 & 24-25

Time

9am - 5pm

Instructor

J. Schmuck

Glass Jewelry

We will have an action packed four hours of making a variety of small glass pieces to fire that will end up in some jewelry.   We will explore what it is about glass that is an ideal material for making jewelry. 

We will examine the differences of opaque and transparent colors, the range of fusing temperatures, metal inclusions, and discuss a variety of techniques to attach the glass to metal and/or 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. 

Come prepared  since we’ll be working at a very fast pace.

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

Date

Jan 25
Mar 2
Apr 9
April 22

Time

6pm - 10pm
6pm - 10pm
6pm - 10pm
3pm - 7pm

Instructor

J. Schmuck
J. Schmuck
J. Schmuck
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
Max. # of students: 6
Click here to sign  up

Date  

Feb 12, 19
Apr 21, 28

Time

12pm - 4pm
2pm - 6pm

Instructor

J. Schmuck
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
Max. # of students: 6
Click here to sign up

Date  

Mar 10-11

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: $375
Pre-requisite: Fusing 1A, Glassblowing 1A or equivalent
Max. # of students: 6
Click here to signup

Date  

Feb 25-26
Apr 14-15

Time

9am - 5pm
9am - 5pm

Instructor

J. Schmuck
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
Max. # of students: 6
Click here to sign  up

Date 

March 28

April 29


        

Time

10am - 5pm

10am - 5pm

Instructor

J. Schmuck

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
Max # of students: 6
Click here to sign  up

Date 

Feb 1
March 22
May 5

Time

6pm - 10pm
6pm - 10pm
10am - 2pm

Instructor

J. Schmuck
J. Schmuck
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
Max # of students: 6
Click here to sign  up

Date

Mar 17

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 and 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
Max # of students: 6
Click here to sign  up

Date

Mar 3-4

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.