I am in the studio "playing" with a new project which I've started a few times, and had in my mind for a while.
At this stage I am working out what materials I like together, what looks good to me. I'm using some polished cut Noreena Jasper we mine, that I have tapped with a hammer into smaller pieces. Originally this piece had 5 large slabs of Noreena in it, and now it only has one slab broken into 8 pieces. So maybe this isn't going to be the piece that showcases lots of this lovely material. But I digress......
I have selected some orange Vibrant Glass Tiles that I want to use in this piece and have started making some cuts. I'm making a variety of cuts because I am not sure what route I am taking yet....
In my hand the tile is whole, cut in 2 or three lengthways, cut into 4 lengthways, then re cut into 2 or 4, random halves at an angle....Maybe I will use one or two of these, or a mixture of all. Hopefully I will work this out before I have gone ahead and cut up too many..... The smallest tile in the middle of my palm is cut into 4 lengthways, then each piece cut into 4- so one tile ends up being 16 lovely little pieces....
I've been using these tiles for a while now and love them. I always use wheeled nippers to cut them. Here's a photo of the wheeled nippers I have to choose from.
I use them all, and will probably buy more when I see them, because in my opinion not all wheeled nippers are created equal. To cut these Vibrant Glass Tile I am using the blue handled ones. Maybe I picked these up at Bunnings, I don't recall. But they are great. They cut these tiles perfectly for me. I have other wheeled nippers that I favour for cutting filati, and then I have others for cutting up smalti or gemstones.
Get tools, use them on different materials and you will find what works best.
Vibrant Glass Tiles are made by pouring molten material into moulds. No two tiles are the same. Some I have purchased are thick fat brick tiles, others are thin with one side fatter than the other. It is this particular type I refer to. You can easily feel the difference as you start handling them. This is a side on view of the tile showing the fat side down, skinnier side up.
Place the tile so that the middle of the tile is where you will cut. If you put the thin side in first, in between the wheels, fat side out closer to you, I find you get the best, straightest cuts.
The fat side is the horizontal side of the tile closest to me, and I am planning a straight cut in half tile, and that is what I will get with this placement.
If you have a couple of different pairs of wheeled nippers, try them on the tiles to see which cut best. Also if you haven't turned your wheels around for a while, it might be a good time to do it now before you plan on doing lots of cutting.
Another thing is that I always use these square plastic containers that mushrooms come in from the supermarket. We eat a lot of mushrooms, and I always wash and keep these containers for the studio. If I am using them for VGT I always always use a seperate one for each colour. I always write the colour number of the tile onto a piece of paper and put it into the container first. Now no mixups can occur when I am cutting or when I am finished using a colour and want to return my unused tiles to the home container they live in. Here is a pic...
These containers are great because you can stack them into eachother when they have materials in them, sometimes I have them 5 or 6 high on my workbench, and it means you have more room to work.
Just thought I'd share these things, while I am thinking about them.... must get back to this project and see where I can take it.
Happy creating from Karen.