If you are new to glass fusing, a microwave kiln might be just what you need. In this post, I share my latest earring design that you can make using one of these small, affordable kilns.

This style is a little more complicated than some of my other designs. So, if you’re just getting started, you may want to check some of my other tutorials first, but this is a fun design if you’re already familiar with your microwave kiln or just like a challenge.

Full Video Tutorial Below

Step 1 – Select Glass

If you’d like to use recycled glass, this video will help you select glasses for your microwave kiln.

Step 2 – Cut Glass

Once you have your glass selected, you will need to cut it into small squares. To achieve this, I use a pair of wheeled glass nippers, gloves, and safety goggles.

The cuts don’t have to be precise, but you want your small pieces of glass to be fairly similar in mass. I also like to use an old cake pan to catch my pieces and any shards caused by cutting the glass.

For this design, you want the end results of your cut pieces to be approximately an eighth of an inch square.

Step 3 – Fuse Dots

The next step is to fuse the glass into small, rounded dots. For the best results, stand the pieces up so that as they fuse, they spread out to make small domed shapes.

Follow the instructions from your kiln to complete the fusing process.

Once the kiln has cooled down, you should have several domed pieces of glass that are similar in size.

Step 4 – Fuse Flower Shapes

Once you have several domed pieces, you can sort them by size to make your earrings.

Place five similar-sized dots into a flower shape and ensure that the edges of all the dots are touching. Next, repeat this for a second earring shape.

For this step, you will want to keep a close eye on the fusing process as you are trying to achieve a tack fuse rather than a full fuse. This will require slightly less fusing time than a full fuse. Note that at this point, it is better to under-fuse than over-fuse if you are uncertain about how long the fusing should take.

Below are some examples of what you are trying to achieve in this step.

Example of too much fusing.

Example of good fusing.

Example of too little fusing.

Step 5 – Fuse Flower Centers

The final fusing step adds the flower’s center and only requires a tack fuse.

Step 6 – Make Jewelry Bales

Below are three types of jewelry bales used to make these earrings. They are all made using 20 gauge silver wire. The video tutorial at the top of this post provides detailed descriptions of how to make each bale.

Step 7 – Assemble Earrings

I used clear E 6000 glue to attach the jewelry bales to the glass flowers and assemble the earrings. This step will also ensure the glass stays together if the fused bonds are a little weak.

Once the E6000 glue has cured, the earrings can be assembled, and the earrings hooks added with jump rings. Again, the video tutorial will provide a more detailed description of the earring assembly.

Happy Upcycling,

Cindy