Playing with Glass Frit

Hello dear friends

I had a play with some glass 'frit' the other day, so here are some of the beads that I made.
Frit.... for those who do not know, is small particles of glass that can be added to a bead.
It can be added as you are making the bead and either melted in fully or added to the top of the bead and left raised for texture.

To apply it, you can roll your warm glass in a little frit pile, either in a dish or a spoon or apply it directly from another rod of glass which has been dipped in frit and then applied in a "painterly" fashion.

It comes in MANY colours both plain and mixed and many different brands. It can be transparent, opaque or a combination of the two. It can be reactive to the glass base... and that is the fun part that I love.
As you can see, in all of these beads, I have melted the frit in fully.

Here are a few I made the other day. None of them are a total standout to me, but it was good getting back to working with glass....

 This pile is a bit of a mixture. The sparkly one to the right of centre has had a dash of silver foil applied to the mix.

These beads all have an opaque, reactive frit called  "Silver Lake" which is plain white in appearance and then turns this pretty blue colour when exposed to the heat of the torch flame.

I really love the look of layered transparent glass  which has been combined with frit and finished by encasing with clear glass. However, it is a fine line between adding too much frit which can result in a rather "muddy" look. This long bead really is a case in point...  it is the old story of less is often better! I am going to work on this a little more today! The gorgeous, deep pink glass behind the long bead is called "Rubino", a stunning glass made by Effetre. 

So that's your lot for the day,

Cheers,

Post Script..... I have been told by a reader that Silver lake frit is no longer in production! What a shame!
I will have to eke out carefully the small amount I have left!