A Scattered Approach to Leftovers – Making the most of scrap glass

It happens to the best of us – the accumulation of little bits of glass.  Too big to throw out but not great enough to make it into an official art piece.  Soon, plastic bins are bulging with these discards.  How to alleviate the guilt?  Make more fused glass!

These scattered glass pieces are some of my favorites and are almost ‘free’ since they are composed entirely of scrap glass.

   Assemble some scraps.  Be sure to include a lot of clear glass.  This example uses opaque glass but it is even better layering transparents.  Freely snip pieces into irregular shapes.

Don’t cut a glass base.  We are going to be creating a piece with holes.

Do have an outline drawn on kiln paper or a general shape in mind as you begin to lay out pieces.  Start on the outside and work towards the center.

Leave lot of space.  Then add another layer of glass pieces – creating bridges between other pieces.

Continuing stacking and layering.  Remember to use lots of clear!

In general, it is ideal to have 3 layers of glass in the overall stack.  A few places could have up to 4 pieces but don’t overdo it.

Here’s the final raw piece and what it looks like after a full fuse.

Now slump into a mold.  This one is a 8″ bowl.  You can also try plates and platters, etc.

Now there is no excuse to throw out glass scraps bigger than 1/2-1″!  The best use of leftovers ever.