Susan von Freddi, LIGHTEN UP GLASS Studio LLC
I am an artist, working in Fused Glass, Cameo Engraving, Block Printing, Glass Castings, Stained Glass and Marble Sculptures.
I have a Studio in the Hampton's Long Island New York, USA
My love of these mediums has inspired me to make many unique items.
Many of my pieces are made with Murrine that I create. I have studied with the most amazing teachers, Klaus Moje, Erica Rosenberg, April Surgent, Laurie Korowitz-Coutu, Leo Tecosky and Virginia Griswald to name a few and I have spent many hours at Urban Glass in Brooklyn, NY.

MAKING MURRINE By Artist Susan von Freddi
_MURRINE._Glass formed by sections of various multi-colored glass rods, which are placed so to form a pre-arranged drawing, and then melted together in a kiln. This technique was already known in Egypt between the third and the first century B.C.

After the block has melted it is reheated in a glory hole to 2000 degrees Fahrenheit and is then reworked with a team of 2 to 3 persons in the hot shop pulling the heated glass from the block into a long thin rod. This is accomplished by standing on a tall ladder while the team pulls down on the hot glass. It is then put back into an annealing oven to cool. Once it has cooled it is ready to be cut into thin slices and worked on in the cold shop.

Now the fun begins:
The individual slices are then incorporated into a larger panel as the design is developed. There can be hundreds of pieces of glass in each creation and each piece of glass is installed into the panel one at a time. Once the design is completed it is ready to go back into the kiln to be fused together at 1500 degrees Fahrenheit.
Once it is cool it can be worked on in the cold shop professionally finishing the panel.
Thereafter, it is fired in the kiln at a lower temperature to slump the panel into a mold of the desired shape.

The finished product is a handcrafted one of a kind panel ready to be shown in the artist’s studio or a gallery.

So please take a look at what I make and contact me if you are interested in purchasing any items. vonfreddi@gmail.com