People have learned to create beautiful glass things since ancient times. This is confirmed by multi-colored sintered alloys that were found in ancient Egyptian tombs. This technology of making glass objects is called fusing. To create a glass product, professional equipment is required. You can also do fusing at home if you replace it with other analogues.
The fusing technique is based on the phased implementation of the necessary actions. Glass elements with a certain pattern are laid out in a mold and baked in ovens at a temperature of 600 to 900 ° C. Under the influence of heat, glass particles melt and merge into a whole product. In this case, each element only slightly changes its position and shape. Making glass crafts is a long and laborious process, but the result is worth it. Fusing includes several more complex techniques, such as:
The simplest technique, which is very popular, is planar sintering. Its implementation requires a certain type of glass plates and the obligatory observance of the order of work. In this way, the basis for more complex and voluminous things is made. It allows you to create magnificent stained glass windows. Products made by flat sintering are beautiful and interesting. The types of fusing also include combing, polishing, casting, patte de ver, etc.
Fusing is a kind of stained glass technique, so its technology and stained glass production are very similar. If you create two canvases using the technique of fusing and stained glass, the resulting compositions will have the following differences:
- The color borders in the classic stained-glass window are made with metal elements that are clearly visible in the picture.
- The borders between colors in fusing are soft and smooth. Thanks to the gradual transitions, during the manufacturing process, the pattern takes on a natural look. With the help of stained glass technique, this effect cannot be achieved.
Ready-made crafts using the fusing technique decorate the interior and are widely used as partitions and screens. They are great for rooms made in high-tech and postmodern styles. Doors and windows are often decorated with colorful inserts. Fusing is used for the manufacture of glass table tops and panels, mirror frames.
Products made using the fusing technique are beautiful and elegant. In order to achieve the strength of crafts, the following steps must be observed during the manufacturing process:
The entire manufacturing process takes place on professional equipment, but when working with glass at home, a special mini-oven is used. It has low power and runs on 220 V. The mini-oven allows you to create small items and various decorations.
Making glass crafts at home is not only a hobby, but also a good source of income. Before starting work, choose the type and shape of the product. The easiest drawing is flowers or abstract shapes. They are best for beginners. In order not to get hurt and not get burned, put on special gloves. Use plastic or silicone goggles to protect your eyes. Making glass crafts in a home mini-oven is a combination of the following:
You can practice fusing without special equipment. To create glass crafts, an ordinary microwave oven with metal walls is suitable. This method of making glass products with your own hands is harmless and safe. The microwave power must be 800 W, otherwise the material will melt from the high temperature.
A small stove is placed inside the device, which is made of special materials and has high thermal stability. Waves of 2.4 MHz are absorbed by its substrate, and heating occurs along with the glass. Frosted and clear glass, millefiori and frits of various shades can be baked in the microwave. It is recommended to choose glass with COE 90. In the process of work, you must perform the following steps:
After the product has cooled, its color will return to its original color. Be aware that dichroic glass will change its original texture and color.
To create products, glass with the same COE (coefficient of thermal expansion) is used. If the characteristics of the elements differ, their joints will turn out to be fragile. The following recommendations will help to make jewelry and other crafts using the fusing technique more beautiful and of high quality:
To learn how to independently create the simplest products using the fusing technique, minimal knowledge is required. This is an easy process. After watching videos on this topic, you can make your own jewelry and other glass crafts. At training lessons and master classes of specialists, you can see all the work with your own eyes and participate in the manufacturing process.
This home business idea can prove to be very lucrative. glass figurines It's always manual labor. And manual labor was valued at all times. The peculiarity of glass products is that each figurine is unique and unrepeatable. Even in modern equipped enterprises, it is not always possible to automate all processes.
By learning how to make glass souvenirs, you can always earn extra income, or even make it your main source of income.
We are not talking about blowing various glass objects, although this technology will also need to be mastered in the future; we consider the method of making glass figurines by melting on a gas burner as a business. The glass blank is melted, and a souvenir figurine is made from it, like from plasticine, with the help of various devices.
This technology has been named lampwork or lampwork (from English lampwork; lamp - lamp, burner, work - work).
You can make various figurines of animals (animals that personify the signs of the zodiac before the New Year are well sold out), flowers, various talismans, glass figurines.
Colored glass stones go well for interior design - they are used to fill various glass objects (vases, glasses), in aquariums as a ground, etc. It is very easy to make them, and the demand market can be quite large. Beads, buttons, bracelets, various glass jewelry are also in demand.
The demand for souvenirs especially increases before the holidays - New Year, St. Valentine's Day, March 8 ...
Necessary equipment for making glass figurines (souvenirs)
For the manufacture of souvenirs, glass blanks (the so-called dart or glass dart) will be required. They are glass tubes or glass rods (sticks). Length - usually up to 40 cm, thickness - from 3 to 6 mm.
To practice lampwork you will need:
Glass tubes and glass rods of various colors;
Gas-burner;
Tungsten wire for cutting blanks;
Victorious knife;
metal tongs; metal tweezers;
Scissors; metal and wooden reamers; holders - but they are used mainly in the manufacture of glass products by blowing;
Protective glasses;
It will take another flight of fancy and skillful hands ...
The table top must be covered with a refractory material (eg asbestos). Hoses for supplying gas, oxygen and compressed air are connected to the gas burner.
The cost of the equipment is not very high, in principle, anyone can afford to acquire this set.
In fairness, it’s worth saying that it’s better not to make glass figurines in a city apartment. This is especially true for beginners. There is a risk of a fire due to negligence, so it is better to train in a garage, in the country, etc.
It is necessary to equip the room with an exhaust ventilation system. Also, special attention should be paid to fire safety issues.
Manufacturing technology of glass figurines
On the Internet you can find many video tutorials on the lampwork technique, they clearly show how to make a glass figurine in the flame of a burner.
In short, the procedure for making a glass figurine consists of the following steps:
Determination of the appearance of the future product (sketch);
Heating the workpiece, giving it the necessary shape;
Adding various details to the main form - petals, eyes, wings, antennae; this can be done with glass blanks of a different color and size ...
Product cooling.
Experienced professionals in the color of the flame can determine its "correctness" for a particular stage of making a glass souvenir.
If the flame has a slightly bluish color, this means that air is supplied in a slightly increased volume than necessary. Oxygen supply produces a silent, deep blue flame output. With insufficient air, the flame has a bright yellow color. Such a flame is needed only to heat the finished product.
Cylinders with compressed air, oxygen and gas are best placed outside the living quarters. The supply to the burner is carried out using hoses with reducers.
There are also small oxy-propane burners, etc.
Before smelting, the blank tubes are cut into several parts using a pobedit knife or a circular saw. Larger workpieces are cut by preheating them with a tungsten wire through which an electric current passes. After the operation, you can drop water on the workpiece in the intended place so that it bursts along the cut line. However, sometimes it is easier to melt the workpiece in the right place and that's it.
Steel tweezers are necessary for stretching the molten workpiece, forming small and thin parts of the product, as well as for making small holes.
Wide tweezers (tweezers) with copper, brass or graphite tips are often used in the manufacture of glass figurines with parts flattened on both sides.
Heated glass stretches beautifully and can be made into almost any shape.
The flame temperature of a gas burner can reach 1800 degrees Celsius. The optimum temperature for making glass figurines is 800-1200 degrees.
The time for making one figurine can take from 15 minutes to several hours - depending on the complexity of the product and the experience of the master.
Market for glass figurines
You can offer souvenirs simply by ads on the Internet. Various souvenir shops can take these products for sale. Pet stores will take colored glass pebbles to sell to aquarists as aquarium substrates. Jewelry stores will be happy to sell various items - beads, buttons ...
You can offer your product to online stores, or create your own online store selling glass souvenirs.
Establishing business relationships with interior designers will not be superfluous. They can order different things from you. Making glass figurines to order occupies a significant share of the sales market in this business.
As an additional source of income, you can consider the option of teaching art to everyone making glass souvenirs (lampwork), including over the Internet.
More information on this idea for starting and running a business can be obtained.
I managed to visit the Drachuk family, who make simply magnificent and breathtaking glass figurines. Figurines are mainly made by his father - Sergey Drachuk, and this is their main business. Since these wonderful people live only 50 km from my Khmelnitsky, I allowed myself to invite myself to visit them.
Glass figurines are produced using lampworking technology. They showed me and told me about this wonderful art, about the secrets of production, and even let me make a beautiful flower out of glass myself.
The whole Drachuk family is engaged in lampworking - that is, the manufacture of glass figurines using a gas burner and multi-colored glass rods. Their house and workshop are located in the suburbs of Starokonstantinov, an ancient Podolsk city with beautiful nature, an ancient Capuchin monastery and a castle and its Trinity Church. Sergey Drachuk, the father of the family, is the main author and master of figurines, and son Nikita - known to us under the nickname Nikitos721 - sells these figurines on aukro.ua in full, earning money for his future studies along the way.
Nikita was just engrossed in writing a letter to a client who had just bought as many as 6 figurines. The figurines themselves, ready to be packed at any moment and go into the hands of a happy owner, were waiting for my visit on the windowsill:
Naturally, being amazed by this beauty, I hovered for about half an hour, looking at figure after figure:
Sometimes it was not even believed that such a thing could be done by human hands. How I wanted to finally go to the holy of holies - the workshop, where all this beauty is born. Sergei immediately warned me that chaos and chaos reigned there, but that’s exactly what I expected to see, in such places there is no order in principle, it’s not in vain that they say “creative disorder”:
While I admiringly looked at the workshop, Sergey talked about the Lampworkinga technology itself, about the materials, about the subtleties of production. So, the figures are made from multi-colored glass rods:
The apparent glass cullet, which invariably remains in the production process, is not such, but is reused in production:
Everywhere there were already made figures, waiting in the wings:
Sergei kindly agreed to make a few figurines with me. This is what his workplace looks like:
The protective screen protects the eyes from glass fragments:
Sergey showed how 2 figurines are made, a black cat and a scorpion. Who would have thought that from a simple glass rod ...
You can make such a beautiful cat:
Who would have thought that glass stretches beautifully ...
And from it you can make a beautiful scorpion:
Words can't describe it all, so take advantage of 11 MB of traffic and watch this video:
Who would have thought that glass could be made so beautiful?:
An Ice Age squirrel and almost finished bees...
Well, how can such a bee cost only 19 UAH ??? Well, isn't the eye rejoicing looking at this beauty?
Back to reality, I wanted to try lampworking in action:
This is a very difficult task, and not at all as easy as it seems at first glance in the experienced hands of Sergei. Here I am learning how to heat and stretch glass:
On the 5th time it finally worked:
And then he moved on to a more complex figure - a flower. And you know? HAPPENED! Beauty, isn't it?
And here is a video of how I made my first masterpiece. The flower was given to my beloved wife and she really liked it.
Sergey said that he constantly invents new figurines and expands his range:
By the way, there are few masters like Sergey in Ukraine, and I was really very grateful for the opportunity to visit these wonderful people.
Finally, a couple of photos and a short video about the workshop:
The same scorpion that was made with me and presented to me:
I was just flooded with gifts. The wife and child were delighted:
The same cat
Short video from the workshop:
On this, my modest visit came to an end, my family and I were kindly invited to visit again and I will definitely wait for spring to spend another wonderful time with this magnificent family.
I managed to visit the Drachuk family, who make simply magnificent and breathtaking glass figurines. Figurines are mainly made by his father - Sergey Drachuk, and this is their main business. Since these wonderful people live only 50 km from my Khmelnitsky, I allowed myself to invite myself to visit them.
Glass figurines are produced using lampworking technology. They showed me and told me about this wonderful art, about the secrets of production, and even let me make a beautiful flower out of glass myself.
The whole Drachuk family is engaged in lampworking – i.e. making glass figurines using a gas burner and multi-colored glass rods. Their house and workshop are located in the suburbs of Starokonstantinov, an ancient Podolsky city with beautiful nature, an ancient Capuchin monastery and castle, and its Trinity Church. Sergey Drachuk, the father of the family, is the main author and craftsman of figurines, and son Nikita, known to us under the nickname Nikitos721, sells these figurines on aukro.ua in full, earning money for his future studies along the way.
Nikita was just engrossed in writing a letter to a client who had just bought as many as 6 figurines. The figurines themselves, ready to be packed at any moment and go into the hands of a happy owner, were waiting for my visit on the windowsill:
Naturally, being amazed by this beauty, I hovered for about half an hour, looking at figure after figure:
Sometimes it was not even believed that such a thing could be done by human hands. How I wanted to finally go to the holy of holies - the workshop, where all this beauty is born. Sergei immediately warned me that chaos and chaos reigned there, but this is exactly what I expected to see, in such places there is no order in principle, it’s not in vain that they say “creative disorder”: 
While I admiringly looked at the workshop, Sergey talked about the Lampworkinga technology itself, about the materials, about the subtleties of production. So, the figures are made from multi-colored glass rods:
The apparent glass cullet, which invariably remains in the production process, is not such, but is reused in production: 
Everywhere there were already made figures, waiting in the wings: 
Sergei kindly agreed to make a few figurines with me. This is what his workplace looks like:
The protective screen protects the eyes from glass fragments: 
Sergey showed how 2 figurines are made, a black cat and a scorpion. Who would have thought that from a simple glass rod ...
... you can make such a beautiful cat:
Who would have thought that glass stretches beautifully ...
... and you can make a beautiful scorpion out of it:
Words can't describe it all, so take advantage of 11 MB of traffic and watch this video:
Who would have thought that glass could be made so beautiful?: 
Squirrel from the Ice Age and almost ready bees ... 
Well, how can such a bee cost only 19 UAH ??? Well, isn't the eye rejoicing looking at this beauty?
Back to reality, I wanted to try lampworking in action: 
This is a very difficult task, and not at all as easy as it seems at first glance in the experienced hands of Sergei. Here I am learning how to heat and stretch glass:
On the 5th time it finally worked: 
And then he moved on to a more complex figure - a flower. And you know? HAPPENED! Beauty, isn't it?
And here is a video of how I made my first masterpiece. The flower was given to my beloved wife and she really liked it.
Sergey said that he constantly invents new figurines and expands his range:
By the way, there are few masters like Sergey in Ukraine, and I was really very grateful for the opportunity to visit these wonderful people.
Finally, a couple of photos and a short video about the workshop:
The same scorpion that was made with me and presented to me:
I was just flooded with gifts. The wife and child were delighted: 
The same cat
Short video from the workshop:
On this, my modest visit came to an end, my family and I were kindly invited to visit again and I will definitely wait for spring to spend another wonderful time with this magnificent family.
