Fused glass is the process of cutting, stacking and layering sheets of glass into unique designs that are then fused together in a kiln. The time spent working the glass after it has been fired is known as 'cold working' and often encompasses a variety of steps including sand blasting and grinding. While many pieces might only require one pass through these steps, some pieces end up being cold worked and fired several times in order to achieve the desired effect.

I start the process by selecting various colored sheets of glass needed for a particular design. Once I have decided on my colors and design, I then use a glass scoring tool to "scratch" a continuous line onto the surface of the glass. Once the glass has been scored, I then use a pair of specialized pliers to break the glass into the designated shape made by the scoring tool.

After all the pieces have been scored and cut I then layer the pieces of glass on top of one another to assemble my creations.

Each piece is then placed onto a pre-washed kiln shelf that is in turn placed into the kiln and slowly brought up in temperature to approximately 1500 degrees Fahrenheit where the glass melts together and becomes one piece. Once the desired type of fuse has been achieved, I then bring the kiln down to 970 degrees Fahrenheit and hold that temperature for 30-90 minutes to "anneal" the glass. This process gives the glass strength and durability by removing the stress from the glass.

After the glass has been properly annealed, I then allow it to cool down slowly to room temperature. Once cool enough to touch I can then proceed with any cold working before firing it one last time. This final firing is referred to as 'fire polishing', and is a cycle in the kiln just hot enough to round the edges and give the surface a nice polished shine.