Stained glass, engraving and polymer clay

After making the stained glass windchimes the other day, I had several pieces of iridescent blue glass left over. I'm slowly learning to combine the different skillsets I've learned - some are coming as rather "duh" moments....as in, why didn't that occur to me before! For instance, one of my FB groups is a microwave fused glass group and someone mentioned using his ring saw to make an awesome Minion pendant...I have a ring saw AND a grinder and never thought to use them to make shapes for the MWK (microwave kiln)! And another group member mentioned using a Dremel to engrave on glass with no water. I just got a rotary tool and have been wanting to test it out on something and knew it had some diamond bits that came with it, so I decided to give it a try. Do yourself a favor and don't "try" stuff on items you like! I had taken one of those bits of leftover iridescent stained glass and put some polymer clay around it and decided to etch a saying in it after it was baked. let's just say I learned my limitations with a rotary tool! I would never try it without the flex shaft, but it made me too brave! My handwriting isn't that good to begin with because of my arthritis and I ended up screwing up my pendant quite badly. So I tried to fix it by writing my saying in clay and rebaking. I want to antique it to match the frame but I am afraid the lettering will come off so I'm leaving it alone! 

After that little mishap I started playing around some more with the rotary tool and I am pretty happy with the results. I found that using darker glass is better than clear...which really didn't take to this technique too well, although I am still experimenting! I rubbed some paint into the engraving to make it stand out better. Some paints didn't work at all. The one that worked the best was a green metallic paint. I believe the metal flakes in the paint lodged themselves into the engraving. They sparkle in the light, even without the paint. I think there are tiny chips that give it that sparkle. :D

 At this point, I have a choice in how to frame them. I can just use copper tape and solder but I am not sure that that is safe to wear against your skin as a pendant! Maybe as a decoration for your tree, or hanging in a window? I could also grind the edges and then wire wrap them. I made the one below using some metallic green polymer clay and giving it a good antiquing with some brown paint after baking. I pressed the back with some coarse sandpaper with a dusting of cornstarch on it to texture it. I may make others with no back so the light can go through. I really loved this glass - it's sort of mirrored, as you can see the in the left photo. Wish I had more!

Back to experimenting! :)  Thanks for looking! Make sure to stop by my Pinterest page and like my Facebook page!