Hey party people!
We have been experimenting with the freeze and fuse kiln technique and it is so fun! The process is relatively easy for small projects. Below we will outline our step by step process, materials we used and our kiln schedule. Let's get started!
The materials
-Plastic spoon
-Clean small brush
-Silicone mold (a shallow mold is the easiest to work with) Here's the Amazon link to letter mold
-Water (we used tap water but you may want to use distilled since it has less contaminants)
-Water dropper (we finally found a use for the plastic oil dropper you get with your glass cutter!)
-Glass powdered frit (we are using OGT 56 F1 black powder frit) Here's the link to the black frit we used
-Clean, dry and absorbent rag
-A mask while working with the powders
Step 1:
Using the spoon, pick up small amounts of the frit and start to fill the mold as close to the top as you can. We suggest only using powdered frit for the freeze and fuse technique because it mixes with the water to create a dense sand.
Step 2
Take a small brush or finger to sweep the frit into the mold cavities further.
Step 3
Fill a cup with water (we used tap water.) Using the water dropper (we used the ones you get with the TOYO glass cutter) start to drop water into the cavities. The amount of water will vary depending on the size of a cavity. You have enough when you see the water pool on top of the frit slightly. 
Step 4
Take more powdered frit and fill the molds to the top. It is common for the water to create air pockets in the mold cavity. To remove the air bubbles we shake the mold, tap on it and push the frit down with our fingers to get it to fill the entire cavity. 
Step 5
Blot off any excess water that is sitting on the top of the mold BUT you don't want the glass to be completely dry. Give the mold a little wiggle to let the water rise to the top. If it does not rise to the top, add a drop more water to each cavity. It should remind you of the sand when a wave pulls away from the shore and the water is just sitting on top of the wet sand. BRB booking plane ticket to Bahamas.
Step 6
Put the mold right into the freezer. We typically freeze the molds for about 3-5 hours. If you wait too long it can dry out the glass. This will make the letters hard to remove from the mold and they will crumble.
Step 7
Remove the frozen glass from the molds. We like to carefully push right up from the bottom of the shape almost turning the silicone inside out. Put them directly onto the kiln shelf. It is best to fire the kiln right away to keep the shape of your projects. Once the glass thaws it is returns to powder. If the shapes are starting to thaw too much while you are taking them out of the mold return them back to the freezer for thirty minutes to harden up.
Our firing schedule
Rate-Temp-Hold
1. 600-1250-15M
2. 9999-1350-1M
3. 9999-960-15M
This schedule works great for small freeze and fuse projects. Temperatures are in fahrenheit. You may want to go up a 5-10 degrees higher temperature or hold a couple minutes longer for glass colours like white or hot opal colours (red, yellow, pink.) We notice the black melts nicely at this temperature but the white could have used more heat to obtain a glassy look to the surface.
Step 8
Remove the letters from the kiln and wash them in water to remove any kiln shelf separator. You can use these letters on your fusing projects! Experiment with other silicone mold shapes with the same process that we used to create the letters. You can mix multiple colours of frit together to create two toned freeze and fuse projects.
Note how the black has a glassy surface when fired to 1350F for one minute and the white still has a frit texture. This is because black melts at a lower temp than white.
We hope this made the process seem easy and you are inspired to try it out! Thank you for supporting our store so we can continue to offer you inspiring and informative content! Enjoy the process! Tag us in your creations on Instagra, Facebook or Tiktok @lucentglassandart .
With love,
