Microwave Kiln and Glass Fusing

I have so many craft interests...and they seem to blend into each other constantly! For instance, I have a microwave kiln (MWK) that I've been using for a couple of years. I just found a Facebook group for them..! And I am learning so much so fast! I love it!

I found out there today that you can use mica powders, such as Pearl-Ex, on glass before it is fused! I found a very cool place to buy samples of mica powder very inexpensively...around a dollar a package! Here is the link.  Apparently some colors work better than others but I am so intrigued! I wonder if you can use actual eye shadows, too...Apparently the color doesn't always last through the heat but the sparkles do!

I've been using a Fuseworks microwave kiln for a few years now...I believe my first few experiments (above) were created in 2011. I find this FB group and have only read back a few weeks and already have learned so much that I was either doing wrong or didn't know were possible! Combing the glass while hot...using molds in it...mica powder..."hot pots" - now I learn that the crap I've been buying at Hobby Lobby is inferior and that there is another type of kiln paper that you can use that is much thinner than what I got at HL. (I am not endorsing this brand or these sites, they are links I got from the FB group!)

The cool thing about it for me is, that paper is thin and sturdy enough to be used with the Cricut! I've been using the thicker paper with paper punches and punching out shapes to use with my fusing, like the ones above - the hearts and the dragonfly, etc. But apparently you can sandwich this thinner paper between sheets of glass and LEAVE it there after firing..

I had seen the technique on a different fusing group that was for regular kilns (much larger pieces) with a group member who made a beautiful Valentines Day platter with Cricut cut kiln paper cutouts embedded in the glass. I wondered how you could do it with the thicker paper because I thought it would leave air between the sheets - but now I see it was with thinner paper. See how much you can learn on the internet? :D 

It's funny how my different interests end up tying together....much like life itself. I called this blog Karmic Confetti for a reason...I have many interests and try many different crafts. I have a Cricut, I do stained glass, I fuse, I play with polymer clay, I bead with what I make...you never know what I'll write about or show here! So stay tuned. ;) Thanks for looking! Make sure to stop by my Pinterest page and like my Facebook page!