Cut Flowers That Really Last

Looking forward to spring flowers?  Here in the Southeast, the annual floral explosion that is spring has begun!  But don’t be discouraged if you have to wait a little longer where you live because I have just the thing to tide you over—cut flowers that really last!  Cut from glass and fused in a kiln, these pretty flowers don’t need water—they don’t fade and die—and they look great all year round!

If you’re a regular reader, you’ll know flower gardening is one of my favorite hobbies.  There’s always something new to learn and I’m usually eager to exchange stories and tips with other gardeners.  Inevitably, the question of favorite flowering plants comes up.   When pressed, I usually say purple coneflowers are my favorite.  Although, truth be told, I love so many different flowers that purple coneflowers win by only a slim margin and only in the perennial flower category.  Daisies are also a strong contender in that category.  So, when I had to choose only two designs at a recent Fused Glass 3D Flowers workshop, it was an easy decision.
But before we dive into this cool fused glass project, I’d like to share a little coneflower and daisy love with a few favorite shots from my photo archives.
First up, is the purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), an herbaceous perennial native to parts of Eastern North America.  This popular flower garden plant grows in clumps—reliably returning year after year.  The blooms are usually vibrant shades of pink and purple although newer varieties come in sunset orange and yellow colors.  The name comes from the interesting shape of the flower head which is typically an inverted cone much like a badminton birdie.  Purple coneflowers bloom for an extended period of time so you have flowers from late spring to late autumn.To top it off, butterflies and bees are attracted to these blooms.  And… well… who doesn’t love butterflies?
Purple coneflowers are often considered a four-season plant because their spiky seed heads carry the show into the winter.
I doubt my new glass coneflower will fool any butterflies, but it looks great snuggled in amongst the blooming hellebores in my spring flower garden.
Next up is the daisy.  There are many different varieties of daisies including the oxeye daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare) which is a common weedy wildflower in North America and the Shasta daisy (Leucanthemum  superbum) which is a desirable garden perennial plant.  These two types of daisies actually look very similar although the Shasta Daisy typically has a larger bloom.  Both have a charming flower face with bright white petals surrounding a dark yellow center.
Daisies are also herbaceous perennials commonly chosen for ornamental flower gardens.

Here’s my fused glass daisy staged amongst my daffodils.
When I first heard about the Fused Glass 3D Flowers workshop, I wondered how a substance as hard and unforgiving as glass could be made to take on the soft organic form of a flower.  But the glass flowers have a remarkable likeness to the real thing.
The workshop, taught by Seonaid Whitefield at the Spruill Center for the Arts, was inspired by the Creative Paradise Inc book Fused Glass Flowers (see More Info below).
This wasn’t my first attempt at fused glass and, hopefully, it won’t be my last.  Check out my previous blog post Fused Glass: From Fan to Maker for an introduction to the medium and my Fused Glass – FanningSparks Favs Pinterest board for over 250 examples of fused glass art.
The Fused Glass 3D Flowers workshop was broken into two sessions.  In the first session we selected our designs, choose the glass and made the parts.  Seonaid took care of firing our pieces during the intervening week so we could assemble them during the second session.
Seonaid shared several of her own pieces with the class.  Seeing actual examples made it much easier to select designs for our own projects.  Here are a few of her examples including a daisy, coneflower, daffodil and hibiscus.  Other options included a lily and poppy.
After selecting our designs, we picked up a template and headed over to the glass storage area.  I chose a white and pink opal color blend for my purple coneflower and a simple opaque white glass for my daisy.  The next step was to cut the glass pieces—16 daisy petals and 16 coneflower petals were needed.  I found it most efficient to start with a large rectangle and then to gradually “slice off” the individual small pieces.  You can see this technique underway on the daisy petals below.
After cutting all the individual rectangles, I cut a point at one end as shown on the coneflower petals below.
Then I used the studio glass grinder to smooth out the edges, round the corners and refine the points.
I cut small circles from contrasting colored glass for my flower centers and sprinkled them with glass frit to add a little texture and interest.  Shown below are the 16 white petals and yellow flower center for the daisy.
We carefully washed our glass pieces before taking them to the kiln where we meticulously placed and stacked each piece leaving a small hole in the center.  Shown below is Spruill’s awesome studio glass kiln.
Next, we turned our attention to making leaves for the flowers.  I cut two identical pieces for each leaf using the templates Seonaid provided.  The studio glass grinder helped ensure the pieces were exactly the same size and shape.
Next, I stacked two matching leaf pieces and inserted a short piece of copper wire between them.  The wire is a special high temperature wire designed to resist the heat of the kiln.  I carefully placed my leaves on the specially-designed net leaf texture mold for firing.  The heat of the kiln would seal the wire between the two leaf pieces and imprint the veins on the bottom leaf surface.
After all our pieces were placed in the kiln, we left for the week.  But the work didn’t stop there—Seonaid walked our pieces through the firing process over the next few days.  First was a “tack or contour fuse” to fuse the glass pieces together (see reference chart below).
Next, Seonaid placed each piece in or on the appropriate mold for the second firing.  Some pieces, such as the large, red hibiscus (shown at the top right), were placed in slump molds into which the glass would slump, while other pieces, such as the small pink coneflower (shown center), were placed over drape molds onto which the glass would drape.  The inset shows a closeup of a drape mold.
Like magic, our class was greeted with boxes of fired flower parts at our second session.
Here are some of my fused glass pieces ready for assembly.
We used ¼” copper tubes to make our flower stems.  After uncurling the wire from the fired leaves, we positioned them along the copper tube and wired them in place.  This is Seonaid demonstrating the process.
Next, we used waterproof adhesive floral tape to secure the wires to the copper tube.
Then to hide all the mechanics, we wrapped the wires and the entire copper stem with paper florist tape (aka stem tape).
The final step was to attach the flowers to the stems.  This is where the small hole we left in the center of the flower heads came into play.  The process was straightforward for my daisy and coneflower but a little more involved for some of the other flower designs.  The hibiscus bloom, for instance, has striking beaded stamens at its center.
We checked the fit by inserting a small, flat-topped screw through the center hole and into the copper tube.  We added small washers under the flower to fill any gaps and create a level area.  Then we used two-part epoxy to secure the assembly.
That’s it!  My fused glass daisy and coneflower were done!  You can see them staged in my spring flower beds in the photo below.  Note the flowers would have to be tweaked if I actually planned to leave them outside.  The glass parts would be OK but the florist tape, for instance, would have to be replaced with something more durable.
But I don’t intend to leave my new fused glass flowers outside—instead they’ve found a new home in my studio where I can enjoy them every day.

More Info

Check out my previous blog post Fused Glass: From Fan to Maker for an introduction to the medium and my Fused Glass – FanningSparks Favs Pinterest board for over 250 examples of fused glass art.
The Spruill Center for the Arts is located in Dunwoody, a suburb north of Atlanta, Georgia.  “Spruill Center for the Arts fosters creativity and social connections through the arts by:
. Offering a diverse visual arts program to students of all ages and skill levels
. Providing a platform for artists to share their talents through exhibitions, sales, and instructional opportunities
. Enriching community through programs designed to inspire the artist in everyone.”
Spruill’s facilities are outstanding and they offer an impressive variety of classes and workshops.  You can learn more on the Spruill Center for the Arts website.
Seonaid Whitefield’s Fused Glass 3D Flowers workshop was great fun!  Her thoughtful preparation and careful execution were evident in everything from the pre-made templates to the behind-the-scenes firings.  Many thanks Seonaid for an excellent fused glass experience!  You can learn more about Seonaid, including her upcoming workshops, on her Dancing Light Glassworks website or Instagram account.
Thanks, also, to my fellow students for an enjoyable time in the glass studio!
For more information about the book Fused Glass Flowers, see the Creative Paradise Inc website.

Today’s Takeaways

1. Consider growing purple coneflowers or daisies in your perennial flower garden.
2. 3-dimensional fused glass flowers can have a remarkable likeness to the real thing.
3. Unlike real cut flowers, fused glass blooms don’t need water—they don’t fade and die—and they look great all year round.