Fused Glass Frame

Making a glass picture frame for mirrors or photos is not a complicated procedure. These structures make great fused glass art to display or share. You need to remember that glass shrinks during the fusing process. When putting two pieces together, they will not melt into each other, but will shrink apart. The instructions are for making a simple square structure, but you can cut your glass in any shape you desire, and add any accents you like.

Basic Structure

For a basic skeleton, you will need to cut four strips. Two long strips for the sides and two shorter strips for the top and bottom. Now cut some clear glass, but cut these pieces a tiny bit larger the bottom layers.

In the diagram, you can see how the red represents the top and bottom pieces, while the blue represents the side pieces.

glass fused frame, Glass picture frame

Now cut some more pieces of clear glass and place or glue them on top of the overlapping pieces of clear glass. The key here is to cut some strips of clear glass to go on top of the other clear pieces.

You need to make sure that your pieces overlap to allow the glass to flow together. Make sure that these pieces are placed over the spots where the four other clear pieces touch each other.

In this diagram, the green represents the overlapping pieces of clear glass on this frame.

glass fused frame, Glass picture frame

Now fuse to a full fuse, anneal, cool and your structure is complete. During the fusing phase, the clear pieces of extra glass will melt down and fuse all the pieces together.

This is just a basic simple skeleton. If you want to add other designs or texture to your structure, you can do this by adding these pieces before firing. These added decorations can be placed where your glass pieces touched, eliminating the need for the extra pieces of clear glass.

To finish the project, glue the finished fused glass frame to a picture easel backing using two part epoxy or E6000 glue. These will make a creative addition to any table or mantel. Make them for your family and friends!

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