From time to time we get asked about some of the terms and techniques used to create the works you see on my site.
This will be an ongoing examination of what these terms mean. Fused glass is a simple concept, it is the melting of different pieces of glass together. There are different levels of melting the glass from a full fuse (complete melding of the pieces) to slumping (bending) Full fusing of glass makes one piece from many (as shown in the pinwheel design above).
Slumping glass is the heating of the glass to a point where it becomes pliable and will bend or slump into a form (see the fluted plates). I’ll be discussing this and go deeper into this subject in future posts.
I hope this helps you start to understand what we mean when we speak of fused glass.