“I love watching the glass transformas the sun moves across and through it”
— Cassey Scales
Origin Story
My story begins in a little antique shop in Cape Cod, MA.
It was 2001. I had just filled my belly with a fresh cup of clam chowder. My hair was a frizzy mop from the sea air, but I didn’t care. I was in my happy place.
And that’s when it happened.
I was perusing the shelves of all the beautiful works of art when,
From across the room beckoned the most beautiful blue glass bowl.
Its beauty struck me like nothing else and I knew I had to bring it home to Texas.
Fast forward five years later and the time came when my firstborn flew the nest. The emptiness that followed was something I was not prepared for. I had to find something to fill that achy void in my stomach.
(Older mamas out there you know the feeling).
I began throwing pottery at the local studio, and, truthfully, it was a challenge.
Any small adjustment I wanted to make would end up wrecking the whole thing, and after about a year all I got were a few decent pieces and a whole lot of frustration.
Clay just wasn’t my medium.
So I asked my teacher, Kirby, to suggest something else. He introduced me to the art of fused glass and from the moment I made my first piece, I was hooked.
Suddenly, I was churning out pieces left and right. Sure, they needed lots of tweaking, but working with glass really opened the floodgates to my creativity.
I loved the way such a sharp and seemingly unyielding object could be reshaped and given form and movement.
With glass, I could see endless possibilities.
Then one day in church, the stage lights showed me a design idea.
I went to the studio and produced my first few sets of glass crosses. I posted pictures on Facebook and very quickly the response was overwhelming. My friends and family raved over them.
Soon after the “viral post,” I got a commission to produce 40 crosses, each with a unique design–whatever I wanted. I loved having that free reign and it gave me immense confidence.
Following a few more commissions, I was able to afford two kilns and build my own studio at home.
The presence of the glass in that shop in Cape Cod never left me. The little blue bowl sits in my studio to this day as a reminder of how far back I have been drawn to the beauty of glass.
The Process of Fused Glass
Making a work of fused-glass art is like building and baking a pizza. Only you can’t eat it–obviously!
Using special tools, smaller pieces of glass are cut from large sheets of glass. Those small pieces are then arranged on top of a base piece to create the desired design.
Once the design is complete, every little piece gets glued down and placed into a kiln, a.k.a an “oven” for fusing glass.
Then, over the next 12 hours, magic happens.
As the kiln climbs to a maximum average temperature of 1,650 degrees Fahrenheit, (that’s 2x the heat needed for artisanal pizza), all the glass pieces melt and fuse together. As the temperature drops, the glass will harden to its final form.
Finally, after another 10-12 hours the glass will be cool enough to handle.
Buon Appetito! (but not really).
By the way:
You can display a fused glass piece, and use it, too. All works of fused glass are created with food-safe glass. Just be sure to hand wash, and do NOT use in a microwave.