Isometric Cubes

01.

Cutting Pieces

Firstly, an isometric cube is not an easy thing to draw. Suffice it to say that there are square roots and 30 degree angles involved. Hence the straight edge and a right triangle for the cutting. I simply cut strips of the various colors, then used the right angle to draw a 30 degree angle line across them.

 02.

Make It Square

The irony of such an exacting geometric design is the fact that the end product isn’t actually square (recall the square roots from step 1). It’s a little taller than wide. By the way, I’m using Cream Opalescent (000420-0030), Woodland Brown (000203-0030), and Dusty Blue (000208-0030). I felt that transparent glass wouldn’t really give me that 3-D feel that is the isometric cube pattern’s appeal.

03.

Assembly Complete

I had to pick through different brown, blue, and cream diamonds that I’d cut, and also do a bit of grinding (with a wet grinder), to get the tiles to match up and lay as close to one another as possible.

04.

Ready to Fuse

I used a large piece of the cream glass to back the entire piece then used GlasTac to glue the diamonds down before moving them to the kiln shelf (lined with ThinFire paper).

Below you can see the piece fused.

  05.

Ready to Slump

Unfortunately I forgot to photograph the coldworking. I used increasing silicon carbide grits (from 80 to 400) at my coldworking station to make all four edges straight. The little diamonds that make up the cubes had small gaps at the edges where they came together, which then became wobbly after fusing.

I’m using the Square Slumper A 8739, coated with primer. The slumped piece is below.