Trying to fuse glass shards into a pendant reminded me why I stick to metals.

Had this idea to encapsulate colorful broken glass in a silver frame for a steampunk look. The kiln cycle went fine, but during cooling, the different expansion rates caused a hairline crack in the bezel. Now I'm staring at this fragile hybrid thing, wondering if annealing would have helped. What's your experience mixing materials with such different thermal behaviors? I'm tempted to try again with a lower melting point glass.

3 comments

3 Comments

karen_owens57m ago

Why is it silly to give materials a little personality? In my studio, glass is absolutely the drama queen (prone to fits of cracking if you look at it wrong) and metal is the stoic workhorse. That thermal expansion mismatch isn't just a chart in a textbook, it's a genuine compatibility issue you have to negotiate, almost like a relationship. Maybe annealing would have eased the tension, but a lower COE glass is probably the more diplomatic solution.

robert1574h ago

Oof, glass and metal having a thermal argument? That's some steampunk heartbreak right there.

anderson.alice2h ago

Hold up, are we seriously personifying materials now? Glass cracking under stress because metal expands faster? That's not just heartbreak, it's a structural catastrophe. Who decided to give inanimate objects drama like this? I've seen things shatter from temperature changes, but calling it an argument makes it sound intentional. Steampunk or not, that's some tragic poetry right there.