April Sale!

I don't know which gets people more excited- the posting of our Monthly Sale or the embarrassing pic of Zenia which announces the sale. Once again, we give you both. Cringe as you gaze upon this photo, and go here for our April Sale...
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Next Intro to Fusing Seminar...

Happens on Saturday April 6 from 10am- 4pm.

Learn how to make really cool stuff like the Dr. Seuss, Yellow Sub and Pink Floyd projects as seen on our Facebook Page.

Class runs for six hours, costs only $195.00 and covers instruction (we even teach the technical side so you can fire on your own), a $40 store credit and ALL FIRINGS for whatever you make that day. We even throw in some handouts and some really pretty pictures!

Two Experiments

Seems Mikey wasn't happy with his iPod dock, and wanted to build one more suitable to his warped thinking. It also gave us a chance to do a piece about 1.5" thick that needed several firings to execute properly. 
We first laid up a base of alternating colours eight layers thick to represent the wooden plinth of a turntable and fused it into a solid block in a stainless steel dam (lined with fibre blanket). Because of the thickness, we fired very slowly to make sure the differential in temperature was minimized to prevent thermal shock. In this case it was 200 degrees/hour to 1100, with a 20 minute hold. We then fired to 1460, with a 15 minute hold, finishing off with a crash cool down to 970 with a hold of 120 minutes. 
The top cap that consisted of the turntable platter, arm and controls was then added to the prefired base and refired, this time to a temp of 1430 to allow for a bit more of a 3D effect, rather than fusing it to flat. Here's the finished result-

Next, because we had this piece in a steel dam with fibre blanket lining the perimeter we ended up with a rough edge that really doesn't look as attractive as it could. It also looked a little too 'rigid' for our liking. We were looking for a more 'play-doey' kind of look, so back into the kiln it went for a hopefully successful fire polish.
Once again, because the finished piece is about 1.5" thick we have to fire up slowly, and make sure to include a longer anneal soak time so take note of the notes above. 
The danger of this firing is that we fire too low and all is for naught (?) or we go too high and end up with a puddle. Taking an educated guess, we shot for 1350, with no hold and got lucky-

iPod broken in by the Infamous Figimodo, playing his favourite band- Little Axe!

Just a Quick Note

If you are or have been a student of ours, or you have taken advantage of our FREE STUDIO SPACE ALWAYS, then as Neil would say, 'this note's for you'!

Just Genius!

We do have some of the cleverest students.
It can be very frustrating sometimes when working on a piece to try and see how it's progressing colour wise, and yet still hold everything in place as you cut, grind and solder into place. 
Sheila has come up with a brilliant solution- get a piece of clear plexiglass (easily gotten at Home Depot, etc) and cover it with that sticky white grid cloth that is used to repair drywall (ditto). 
Bingo! The sticky grid holds the glass perfectly in position and sticks it all to the clear substrate to make it ideal for viewing on a lightbox, etc.

Figimodo Tries His Hand at Fusing

First attempt was a big (small?) failure. But perhaps the perfect size if you're Figimodo?
Moving on, we get Vanna Opal in to help out (strange that she would step up to the plate on this one- she usually shrinks everything... Mikey). Here's the two piece sushi set that is on sale this month done in a clever pattern-

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Finally a Foiler That Offers All the Benefits Without the Vices

Don’t end up like this person.
He didn’t buy the FIGFANS (Fantasy In Glass Foiler that Avoids Neck Strain) and now he’s sorry.
At FIG Tools Inc., we build tools that combine Zen-like coherency with economy and practicality.
Enter the FIGFANS, the world's best copper foil applicator. Packed with a host of proprietary technologies that truly enhances the foiling process, the FIGFANS has been intensively designed and extensively field tested to assure effectiveness and ideal ergonomics, and to avoid malicious lawsuits.
The FIGFANS is another in a long line of proprietary quality products from FIG Tools that began several years ago with the introduction of the FIG GlasStretcher.
But don’t believe us.
Try it for yourself.
After all, when you consider the alternative, we thought we’d spare you the headache.
Another quality product from FlG Tools, a humble and penitent division of FIG Inc.

The whole world seems to be mesmerized with the colour of smoke that will be released from the Vatican chimney as the Catholic Church votes for a new Pope. The College of Cardinals however, seem to be having a problem getting the right colour. Black means no Pope yet, while white signifies that a new Pope has been chosen.  We learn this has been somewhat problematic as they have been getting grey sometimes. The Papal authorities upon investigation discovered that the College of Cardinals had been using a Paragoni Kiln. But with the world's attention zeroed in on the chimney smoke, no mistakes can be allowed so Vatican officials have since ordered one of the new Coneart Kilns now specially being made for Mikey at Fantasy In Glass.

The Cardinals had initially considered the FiGGy 120v Square kiln with an interior dimension of 15.5" x 15.5", but realized that with 117 ballots being cast that the FiGGy BiGGy 240v Square Kiln with an interior at almost 24" square would be a better choice. Rumours that the kiln was serving a dual purpose baking pizza between votes has not yet been confirmed...

And yes, we now have these two 'SQUARE' kilns in stock!

Continuing Warm Glass

So, here's a very shallow slump, which is fairly easy whatever program you might follow. But most firing schedules will get the glass too soft as they are designed to give success regardless of the mold's shape. Ideally you want to minimize the glass picking up texture from the mold, yet get it soft enough to conform to that mold's shape. The Slumpy #297 has such a subtle shape that we can do a 'cooler' slump. 
You see, there are two general ways to slump; one is to go higher in temperature with a short hold, or go for a lower temperature with a longer hold. The second approach will minimize the picking up of texture, yet allows the glass to do a nice slump. 
So, this is a single thickness SP Black Aventurine capped with a double thick (4-5 mm) SP100 Clear (Mikey added some silver foil circles in between the two layers 'cuzz he's a showoff)- 
1- 300/hr to 1050, hold 5 min.
2- 400/hr to 1215, hold 15 min.
Too easy...

Yes, We Are Social Media Savvy

We've had a Facebook presence for a couple of years now. 
Not just Mikey's Diary of a Demented Store Owner blog (as if that wasn't enough already... Vanna Opal)
And as for Facebook, when I say we, I mean both Fantasy In Glass and Figimodo.

Join us on Facebook and "Like us" to make our blog entries, product announcements, and industry tidbits part of your Facebook newsfeed.

And then we've also been on Twitter (@fantasyinglass) for awhile. This is the spot where staff will post great and special sales you won't hear about anywhere else!

And of course, we're also onYouTube. 
Logos below will link you directly to those spots-

    

... and for iPhone and Android smartphone users, we are on Instagram- under Figimodo Fantasyinglass-

FANTASY IN GLASS ACCUSES UROBOROS GLASS OF COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT FOR USE OF THE WORD 'GLASS'

Toronto, CANADA- Fantasy In Glass Owner Mikey filed suit in federal Supreme Court in Ottawa today accusing the Uroboros Glass Company of copyright infringement for widely using the word 'Glass' in the title and marketing of their products. FIG claims de facto exclusive legal use of the word. "We have established the strongest brand name in the history of modern civilization. Whenever someone sees the word 'Glass' they immediately think it should be preceded by the words 'Fantasy In' so we want to avoid any confusion amongst consumers", said company owner Mikey.

Attorneys for Uroboros had attempted to dispute the suit as 'frivolous' and weak efforts to placate the staff of Fantasy In Glass with Uroboros T-shirts and aprons have proved to be unsuccessful. 

Is It March Sale Time Or...

... is it just another opportunity to post an embarrassing picture of Zenia? We think either reason is valid. 

This month's sale here (don't see it, just do a page refresh)

Continuing Warm Glass

There are times when you just want to slump a single piece of glass into a mold (not everything needs to be double thickness or more). But, oh the horror, if you use a 'normal' slump temperature you end up with a raw (sharp) edge, when a nice fire polished edge is preferred. So here's the schedule we use to achieve it all- nice slump, and nice fire polished edges. Glass used is the stunning Uroboros 60-25. Mold is Slumpy's Wave #9249.

1- 500/hr to 1050, hold 5 min
2- 500/hr to 1200, hold 5 min
3- 250/hr to 1260, hold 10 min

You do have to remember this is a bit of a compromise as at this temperature, to get the glass soft enough to round off the edges the glass is also soft enough to pick up the texture of whatever it is sitting on. We use a cheap $5 mouth atomizer to apply our kilnwash to the mold which gives the smoothest surface eliminating brushstrokes (ask us and we'll show you how the atomizer works)

Lack of Glass Knowledge Affects Toronto Couple's Relationship

TORONTO, ON— The budding three day romance between Gary Browne and Katharine Chase ended this week after a failed series of questions over fusible glass caused Browne to re-evaluate Katharine's attractiveness as a potential spouse. "So I ask Katherine, what's the coefficient of expansion of glass? And she says it's the length a piece of glass expands and contracts over time. And my response is.... no, not even close," said Browne.
"Then I asked her, if the expansion of Spectrum fusible is .00000096, is that the numerical expression of the percentage change in length per degree change in temperature?'. 

And Katherine says no. And I'm all like, ummmm, WRONG!".
"And I start thinking, do I really want to marry a woman who is going to have kids that are as glass fusing science inept as she is?" 

"Katherine just didn't seem like the kind of Mom who is going to teach her future kids the truly important things in life, like compatibility testing and how to use a stressometer. So I had to dump her."
"It's really sad because I did care about her and we had some great times. But her glass skills are just the kind that can't keep an average guy like me interested. And I don't want my future children growing up with a mother that can barely conduct a thread pull or bar test after a massive amount of coaching. That's just not acceptable." 

According to Lani McGroggy at Bulls MatchMates, a Toronto-based dating agency, this sort of male behavior is very common now, in a powerful emerging trend referred to in dating agency circles as "glass shallowness".
"We're seeing more and more 'glass shallow' men come in who don't even want to see a photo of the woman, but who want to know whether her preference for glass lies in the copperfoil or lead technique, or whether they prefer Bullseye, Uroboros or Spectrum for fusing. It's really becoming a crisis for us because it's getting to be every guy who walks in our doors - and they are openly rejecting women who refuse to even consider the use of Bullseye or Uroboros art glass," noted McGroggy.
"My best advice to a young woman who wants to date and possibly marry is three words: Glass, glass, glass. It seems that the average beer-guzzling, hockey-watching Canadian male just doesn't care about physical appearance or a nice personality anymore - all he can think about is coefficients of expansion, appropriate copper foil widths and the proper application of patinas.
Browne may have found a new match - a Beginner Stained Glass student at Fantasy In Glass named Louise Barcelona, whom he met during a Saturday seminar on mosaics.
"I was just kind of chatting with Louise, feeling her out, seeing if she was hot or not, and I asked her about Mikey's formula, and she's all whispering in my ear going 'Mikey's formulas are only valid for linear systems with an invertible matrix coefficient', and I almost died. Katherine never did anything like that. Louise Barcelona is one woman who knows how to talk to a man."

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Figimodo...

... chillin' with a couple of extremely fashionable students...

Test Firing Slumpy's New Molds

Working out some firings to make things easier for you...
Here's Slumpy's 6" diameter SM473 Top-Hat Candle mold (retail-$23.99). It posed a bit of a challenge because the sides are vertical and glass doesn't like to fall/slump straight down that easily. Because the drop is about 1.5 inches, the glass will stretch and perhaps thin out too much so we first fused two pieces of SP Spirit glass together giving us a 1/4" thick blank.
We got a perfect result with this schedule-
400/hr to 1050- hold 15 minutes
500/hr to 1275- hold 10 minutes.
While the temperature and soak time may be a little higher than the norm, due to the mold shape the glass needed that extra help. We did pick up some back texture from the mold (see pic) but it was minimal as we used a mouth atomizer to apply our kiln wash...

Thought You Should Know...

Pizza Boxes

We started using them to pack up your glass about 15 years ago, so we did it first Awreckzia, Loo Loo Lemon and all those other stores that stole Mikey's stroke of genius ...

Freak Accident paralyses Man From Waist Up

TORONTO, ON- A bizarre, un-precedented spinal injury sustained in a car accident Saturday has left local resident Al 'Only Two Hands' Nicarosiac paralyzed from the waist up.
“Al is back on his feet,” said Toronto Hospital head of surgery Gary Sorrel. "Unfortunately though, he has lost all feeling in his head, arms and torso. No longer with the ability to move from the waist up, he cannot speak, dial a telephone, cut stained glass or most tragically no longer use a handfoiler.” 

Doctors said however that Nicarosiac should be able to resume his career as a professional soccer player as early as next week.

Seuss and Facebook

We just finished off our fusing Seuss project of Green Eggs and Ham, with the Cat in the Hat along with One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish and posted pictures and fusing/slumping information on how it was done for those who might be interested on our Facebook page.
Oh yeah, and if you do stop by there, tell us you 'like' us...

Millefiori

More from our Slumpy shipment - in Sys96, a dozen new colour mixes of millefiori, a great embellishment for any fusing project (in Sys96)

New From Slumpy

If you've been peeking at our facebook page then you know Traffic Tech worked like heck and got our Slumpy order to us today doing a great job beating the pending storm. Lots of molds, millefiori, and some particularly nice mixed colour frits- see video below for a taste...

Slumpy Mold Discovery

Fantasy in Glass has discovered that rats can be trained to help in the manufacture of their molds for glass slumping and fusing.

Apparently it's not just any rodents, but specifically the "highly social, intelligent" Figus Rattus- a small caviomorph rodent that is native to Toronto. And while they don't use tools in their natural habitats, they were taught by researchers as well as the staff of Fantasy In Glass (Canada's first and still only glass supplier) to do so in captivity.

After several months of training and practice, researchers say, the figus rattus can move a rake as smoothly and efficiently as any croupier in any Las Vegas casino- a handy skill when mixing the mud-like slurry that these molds for slumping glass are made of.

“This is first time rodents have been trained to wield tools”, said Gary Brownosley, a pseudoscientist, who led the experiments at the Laboratory for Really Cool Science in Toronto. He elaborated about how they are so efficient and quality conscious that the Teamsters’ Union has petitioned the mold manufacturer to either stop using these poor little helpless animals or to certify them to unionize the shop.

While these figus rodents are best at manufacturing molds 14” or smaller in diameter (a size that is easily accommodated by most of the kilns sold at FIG), scientists from the LRCS are considering training baboons in the manufacture of larger molds- a specialty of Brownosley’s.
While it has long been thought that tool use is a hallmark of higher intelligence, Dr. Brownosley said, the brain structures that underly such abilities may lie dormant in many animals with good hand-and-eye or paw-and-eye coordination. Training these figus to make molds in captivity provides insights into the plasticity of their brains, he said, and may even shed light on how early humans evolved tool use in the first place.
In separate studies, Dr. Brownosley notes they are examining gene expression in the brains of macaques and marmosets trained to check the coefficients of expansion in Uroboros glass.

Oh yeah, almost forgot- our Slumpy has arrived...

The Advantages of Retail...

You really do meet the nicest and sometimes, most talented people when running a retail store. One of them is Enoch Kent (nice for sure, talented see below), and we are proud to call him a customer.

Scottish-born, this legendary songsmith was co-founder of the acclaimed Singers Club with Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger. He even can make claim to hooking up Bono's parents so without Enoch there would be no U2!

Since immigrating to Canada in the 60s, Enoch performed in many folk clubs and festivals across the country to wide acclaim. During that time, he focused on live performance and decided to put recording aside for, as he says, “a wee while”.
After a 36-year recording hiatus, at 70 years young, Enoch well made up for lost time with his return to the studio and the release of 4 outstanding CDs on the Canadian indie label Second Avenue Records: “I’m A Workin’ Chap”, “Love, Lust & Loathing”, “For The Women”, and “I’m A Rover”. These albums have been garnering rave reviews, extensive airplay, 2 Canadian Folk Music Award nominations, and tour opportunities across Canada, the US, and UK.

But, aside from all this free PR above, we just want to let people know about a new project of his that is well worth attending- the Wee Folk Club, a small intimate club featuring some of the best folk, blues and traditional music in Toronto.
The next Wee Folk Club is THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7 at the Dominion on Queen (500 Queen St E, Toronto). Cover is $10. The music starts promptly at 7:30pm. Tell Enoch Mikey sent ya and he'll have to buy you a nice single malt scotch...
http://theweefolkclub.wordpress.com/. The night features The Bilge rats and Owen McBride.

$5 Shipping, Amazing! But Free This Month!

While we ship just about everything we carry, we have no problem and do ship glass regularly. 
But here's where it gets really good-  we also ship over 230 colours and styles of glass in 6" x 6" squares anywhere in Canada and we'll do it for a flat rate of a lousy $5.00 (five bucks!) regardless of how many you want!!
Yes, it is all Sys96 glass but remember it is also perfect for any of your stained glass projects too.

We've also built a new up-to-date colour palette chart complete with pricing (suitable for framing- go here) to make ordering (form here) just way too easy.

NB: This month, we'll ship this glass to you absolutely free!. Go here for more info...

The Kiln Is Dead. Long Live the Kiln!

Our Big Blue Denver Kiln was one of the first major pieces of equipment we bought 30 years ago! 

In those early startup days of Fantasy In Glass. 

And money was tight in those early days- we didn't have the opportunities we have today, like selling the naming rights to our building to the SwissCheesed GlassWerks Company.

As a matter of fact things were so hard that we could never afford wieners in our Mac'n'Cheese. 

But that kiln. 

It ran day and night, like a Swiss clock, unfailing, unrelenting, ever persistent, never asking for anything but the occasional dusting to show off its blue paint.

And work it hard we did (yes, Zenia, maybe even harder than you).

That blue monster fired painted glass for windows that ended up in churches all across the country. Heck, they even published a book on our work using this kiln for St. Basil's Basilica in Edmonton.

But alas, that dutiful, sweet, gentle Denver Blue Kiln is no more.

It died today.

But despair not. We have very exciting news pending...

Monthly Sale for February

I don't know which gets people more excited- the posting of our Monthly Sale or the traditional embarrassing pic of Zenia which officially announces the sale.
We give you both.
Cower in servility (Conrad Black still doing some copy for Mikey) as you gaze in wonder upon this photo, then go here for our February Sale!
If you don't see it, make sure to do a page refresh...

More Slumpy Stuff

As if bringing a whole bunch of new molds in wasn't exciting enough , we forgot to mention we're also bringing in a lot of frits including their frit blends, which have already been a great seller for us. Here's some of their new colours which we have on order- the pics are great because they show them unfired and then fired.