Blue Bubbly Glass Vase

As time goes by, a glass artist has a huge collection of end cuts. When visualizing future projects, I often look through my inventory of end cuts to see what and how they can be used.

A lover of marine life, I thought of diving and bubbles whether they are from divers or sea creatures. So this project began by cutting strips of glass and nipping squares. Using tweezers, I covered a kiln shelf carefully so that the glass pieces did not touch their neighbor. The pieces fused to "dots" of various sizes. The bubbles were scooped off the shelf, placed in a colander, washed, dried, and placed in a storage container.

The next step included cutting an irregular-shape circle (wavy) in both the transparent blue swirl glass and clear. The two layers were aligned, placed on the kiln shelf, and each glass bubble was carefully placed on the glass, rounded side up and again a safe distance from its neighbor. Then those three layers were fused. The following day after cooling, I cleaned the glass and refired it to get its organic shape.

I am very pleased with the results as this piece can serve as glass art, a candle holder or add a floral pin and flowers. It makes a beautiful and interesting vase.