Free Creating Custom Glass Colors Tip Sheet

Creating Custom Greens with Bullseye Fusible Tip Sheet

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Free Creating Custom Glass Colors Tip Sheet

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From time to time, every glass artist faces a challenge finding the perfect glass for a project. Whether your favorite shade is out of stock or you're looking for an exceptional hue, glass gives you the freedom to create custom colors by layering.

It is important to consider how the glass will look when the panel is viewed from the front and from the back, with or without light transmission. A light box can be incredibly useful when you are planning your projects, allowing you to preview how the glass layers will interact.

In fused glass art, you can layer glass to add depth or to get the just-right color. By stacking layers of standard and thin rolled glass, transparents and opaques, you can create and amazing pallete of color options. Something as simple as changing the order the glass layers are stacked in, adding a layer of clear, or swapping a standard thickness for a thin can alter your results. Be sure to experiment and fire test samples to get the best results.

"Kool Koi" by artist Wesley Wong, from Delphi's Online Artist Gallery, is a stunning example of how custom hues and incredible depth can be created by layering transparent, translucent and opaque glass in your fused art.

For stained glass, the technique of layering multiple colors or types of glass is referred to as plating. Plating can be used to make unique textures and colors or to create shadows, contour and add tremendous depth to designs. This technique was used expertly by Tiffany. You can add a layer behind just a single piece in a panel, or create an entire second panel that is layerd behind the first.

The plated Dove panel by artist Mark Henderson, from Delphi's Online Artist Gallery, is an excellent example of using two full panels plated together to create unique hues of glass and add fantastic depth. The Harvest Grain panel by Delphi Instructor Steena Gaut uses plating to create a special color and texture for the moon.