How to Make Fused Glass Jewelry Using Your Microwave

5 Materials
$2
2 Hours
Easy

Advertising Disclosure: Upcycle Design Lab may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links in this post.


Did you know you could fuse glass in your microwave? Well, you can!


All you need is the Fuseworks microwave kiln some kiln paper and some glass. I have used recycled bottle glass for all of my projects but if you buy the kiln kit it comes with some glass pieces to get you started.


Today I want to introduce you to some of the designs that you can make using this kiln. I have had a lot of fun making jewelry and even though I am terrible at cutting glass some of my projects have turned out pretty well.


I have made jewelry that uses tiny single pieces of glass, like these.

To make earrings like these.

and these.

And I have made bigger more complex pieces like these.

and these.

I have even made glass beads.

And fused glass pieces with imprinted shapes.

For the purposes of this post, I am not going to go into a lot of detail about jewelry making as I am not the best at wiring and designing jewelry but I do want to share how easy it is to make your own fused glass pieces.


As I mentioned I like to use recycled glass so my color selection is a little more limited but there are some pretty blues, greens, and yellows to be found. So this is where I started.

To fuse the glass the process is the same no matter if you are working on large or small pieces, simple or complex.


The first step is cutting the glass. You can use a scoring tool or wheel-cutting nippers to make your cuts.

If you are using glass bottles you might also want a bottle cutter. Like I said I am terrible at cutting glass but a while back I did a review of the bottle cutter that I own. Maybe it will help you learn what not to do. :-)

Anyway getting back to the fusing once the glass pieces are cut the next step is to assemble them on the kiln surface. You need to make sure that there is kiln paper underneath and some people have mentioned using glue but I have never tried it.


Below are some pictures of the cut pieces that I started with. Then they show how the pieces were stacked, what they looked like after fusing, and how they looked as finished jewelry.

As you can see you can combine colors together using different sizes and shapes.

I tried several color combinations and I found that it is best to layer darker colors on top of lighter colors instead of the other way around.

So of course the magic happens in the kiln. Here is a peek at some glass in the middle of the fusing process.

Using the kiln is very simple. It only has two pieces a base and lid. Most microwaves fuse in 3 to 4 minutes. The directions suggest checking the process once or twice during fusing.


The fuseworks kiln comes with heat-resistant gloves and you want to make sure that you are using them when you handle the kiln. It gets extremely hot. Once the pieces are fused you need to let them cool off inside the kiln for 45 minutes to an hour before handling them.


As I mentioned you need to make sure to use the kiln paper under each piece before fusing to protect the kiln. But you can also do some fun things with the kiln paper as well.


To make fused glass beads I cut thin long strips of kiln paper and eight small square pieces of glass.

Before fusing the pieces are stacked with the kiln paper sandwiched in between the two layers of glass. For rounded beads make sure the corners of the squares or offset. For more square-shaped beads align the corners on the top and bottom piece of glass.

Once the pieces are fused the kiln paper is easy to remove and leaves a channel to string the glass together.

Another fun way to use the kiln paper is to make a pattern in the glass.

To do this just cut your desired shape out of the kiln paper.

Then layer the glass on top.

And fuse in the kiln.

As you may have noticed the fusing process smooths out a lot of the sharp edges but you still may be left with some sharp and pointy spots. These can be filed down with a sanding block or knife sharpening stone.

Anyway if you have been curious about fusing glass but unsure about getting an actual kiln. This might be a good place to start. You can find the kiln kit for around $100.00 and it comes with all the tools you need to get started.

I have used my kiln hundreds of times and still enjoy planning out different designs and then seeing what the fusing process actually does to my design.

I have also made several tutorial videos if you would like to know more including a review of the kiln itself. You can find those videos below.


Thanks for checking out my post.

Happy Upcycling,

Cindy


Advertising Disclosure: Upcycle Design Lab may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links posted on this website.

Suggested materials:
  • Fuseworks kiln kit   (Hobby Lobby)
  • G-2 Bottle Cutter   (Hobby Lobby)
  • Empty Glass Bottles   (Recycle Bin)
See all materials

The author may collect a small share of sales from the links on this page.

Cindy @ Upcycle Design Lab
Want more details about this and other fashion and style ideas? Check out more here!
Go
Comments
Join the conversation
3 of 7 comments
  • Carol Carol on Mar 15, 2021

    OMG I am a jewelry maker and have always wanted to learn fused glass. This is amazing. I know what I'm putting on my birthday or Christmas list this year. Thank you!

  • Erin Erin on Mar 15, 2021

    What’s the data on using this microwave for food once you use it for the kiln? How does it effect the electric bill?

Next