Glass Pendants
Fume Collapse 1
My Fume Collapse series started as a way for me to reduce waste. I had many small tubes of glass that I couldn't use fast enough for other reasons.. and I eventually stumbled upon this technique to put these tubes to good use.
Not only do I still use this technique to help reduce waste, I use this technique with new glass to make marbles and wing type attachments to my sculptures.
In a fume collapse, I take silver and sometimes gold, vaporize them in the flame of my torch, and the vapor condenses on the inner surface of a tube of glass I put in the back of the flame.
This thin layer of metal is then trapped as I melt and collapse the tube into a solid form, and it is where the beautiful blues, yellows, oranges, greens, reds, whites, and purples come from.
I LOVE the blue in this pendant. In direct sunlight, it looks absolutely electric! Even under ordinary incandescent (as I'm looking at it now) it is an almost unbelievable color. The way the tail end spirals around itself, then comes back up toward the center adds to the wonderful depth in this piece.
Not only do I still use this technique to help reduce waste, I use this technique with new glass to make marbles and wing type attachments to my sculptures.
In a fume collapse, I take silver and sometimes gold, vaporize them in the flame of my torch, and the vapor condenses on the inner surface of a tube of glass I put in the back of the flame.
This thin layer of metal is then trapped as I melt and collapse the tube into a solid form, and it is where the beautiful blues, yellows, oranges, greens, reds, whites, and purples come from.
I LOVE the blue in this pendant. In direct sunlight, it looks absolutely electric! Even under ordinary incandescent (as I'm looking at it now) it is an almost unbelievable color. The way the tail end spirals around itself, then comes back up toward the center adds to the wonderful depth in this piece.
