My fellow glass artist friend Melanie Stoer is showing me how to create a vitrigraph rod. In the suspended kiln that we call a vitrigraph kiln is a flower pot with colored molten glass that has the consistency of molasses. The molten glass slowly flows down through the hole in the bottom of the flower pot, which is aligned over a hole in the bottom of the kiln. The glass hardens with exposure to room temperature and we cut off the rods and let them cool. After cooling, these rods can then be cut into small pieces. The cross sections look like Italian murrini and can be used in other fusing projects. When I finish the plate that I’m working on with these pieces, I will show you what it looks like.

Making a vitrigraph rod