The journey began when Ann sought out a glass blower who would be willing to roll up COE 90 fused glass tiles. Ann had recently committed to a gallery show that was inspired by a trip to Yellowstone National Park. This show is titled “Natures Containers”. Ann wanted “containers”. When contacted, Andy and Charlene agreed to participate in a learning and experimenting collaboration. Vicki and Kevin also joined the effort. Ann, Vicki, and Kevin each have distinct and different approaches to fusing and this added variety to the teams learning.
Over 30 roll ups later the results is a glass blowing team that rolls up beautiful vessels and glass fusers who have refined and focused their work.
They are ready to share their insights and offer an opportunity for others to participate in having their work rolled up at Nichols Art Glass studio.
Some of the teams insights:
10”(horizontal) x 8”(vertical) x 1/2” is the optimal size and orientation of the fused tile
A balanced mix of opal and transparent colors - no large areas of opal or transparent. A backing of opal or transparent both work.
The irrid coating on glass slides and becomes milky even when the irid glass is capped.
Adventurine blue moves and softens to the point that large areas of it make rolling up challenging.
Horizontal strip construction areas keep their structure while a single horizontal strip creates an indentation.
Vertical strip construction can move quite a bit because of the difference in the glass viscosity.
Different shapes create different image movement or distortion.
Glass enamel does not flow as easily as the underlying glass. This can result in a major seam line where the enamels won’t travel to the seam line together.
Sliders can be rolled up, however consideration in selecting the 10”x8” must be made in order to minimize extreme variation in the tile thickness.
Questions to consider in any glass technique or process might be “Why do this?” Why make this tile into a roll up? What does rolling up add to the beauty of the piece?
If you are interested in having roll ups done you will need to:
Have a clean 10”x8” tile
Consider the pricing
1 tile $175
2-5 tiles $150
6+ tiles $125
Identify the tile top, outside surface, and shape. A shape sheet will be on Andy’s website.
Arrange tile delivery and pick up.
Call Andy Nichols at 1(541) 296-2143 to arrange roll up time.
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