Welcome to the World of Fused Glass

The process:

Fused glass (also called kiln-formed or warm glass), involves the use of a kiln to combine glass of different colors, shapes, and textures into a cohesive work of art through high temperature firings. The colored glass is made in a factory, and it can come in flat sheets, stringers, rods, frit (which is crushed or powdered glass), or with specialized coatings (dichroic and iridized). I cut the glass, nip it, bend it with heat, mold it, sift it, layer it, and assemble it into the arrangements I choose. Then I load it into the kiln for one or more firings. The most common high temperature I program the kiln to is 1365˚.

My work:

Most of my recent work centers on floral still lifes. I think of vases of flowers the same way that I think of photographs—they both reflect a moment of time in the life of the participants. Like a person who has always lived in one community, a snowdrop may have lived its whole life in one garden, surrounded by other snowdrops. When they are arranged together in a vase, it’s an image of community beauty. In another instance, however, a daisy may have grown as a wildflower, surrounded by a variety of other species, or perhaps it was assembled with other varieties later in life, like moving to a new neighborhood with a diverse population. We are all flowers in the garden of life, complete with our cycles of growth, regeneration, stagnation, and decay. But although we are all flowers, we can be wildly different in looks and requirements, and we’re all arranged in vases in a different ways, producing an endless variety of beautiful work. I hope you enjoy the arrangements I have made.

                                                                                                                   ~ Manon (Nonnie) Lyketsos

                                                                                                                       Radiant Glass Studio

Make art every day!