Opal glass is the rich, dense, luminous cousin of the transparent glass most fusing courses use – and on this brand new course you’ll be working with our full range of it, layered onto a bed of jet black opal that makes every single colour leap off the surface.

That black backing is the trick. Set a warm coral or a deep turquoise against clear glass and it’s lovely; set it against jet black opal and it positively glows. The result is a piece with the sort of saturated, jewel-bright colour that stops people in the doorway.

This is one of the most generously supplied courses we run. Opal glass, hand-pulled streamers and opal frits are expensive materials, and we’ve put a lot of them on the table for you – so you can be bold with your design rather than careful with it.

What You’ll Learn

• Cutting and shaping opal glass – it behaves very differently to transparent glass, and scoring it well is a proper skill worth having
• Working with opal frits – the crushed glass that lets you build soft blends and gradients of colour
• Using hand-pulled streamers – fine trails of glass for line, movement and detail across your design
• Layering onto a black opal base – how the backing sheet transforms every colour sitting on top of it
• Colour composition – choosing combinations that sing against black rather than disappear into it
• Kiln forming basics – what happens to your piece once the lid comes down

Jen is on hand throughout, whether you want technical help with the cutting or a second opinion on your design. If you arrive without an idea in your head, that’s absolutely fine – she’ll help you find one.

What You’ll Make

One fused opal glass piece, approximately 30cm in diameter, in colours entirely of your own choosing.

Because you’re combining sheet glass, frits and streamers, the surface has real variety to it – solid blocks of colour alongside soft blended areas and fine drawn lines. No two pieces from the same day ever look alike.

Perfect For

• Anyone who loves colour and wants to work with it at full strength
• Complete beginners – opal glass is very forgiving, and Jen guides you through the cutting
• Experienced fusers who’ve only ever worked with transparent glass and want to try something different
• Anyone wanting a substantial, showpiece finished piece from a single afternoon
• Groups and friends booking together – we can take up to 20 people

Why This Course?

Most fused glass work relies on light passing through it. Opal glass does the opposite: it holds the light and gives the colour back to you, which means your piece looks just as good on a dark winter afternoon as it does with the sun behind it.

It’s also a genuinely different set of skills. Opal glass cuts, scores and breaks unlike anything transparent, so even if you’ve fused before, you’ll come away having learned something new – and with a piece that looks considerably more difficult to make than it was.

Your Tutor: Jennifer Barker – Lead Instructor & Founder

Jennifer has been working with glass for over 30 years, having discovered her passion for the medium while studying at Wolverhampton and Staffordshire Universities, where she completed a BA and MA in Glass.

Her expertise spans the full spectrum of glass techniques – from delicate kiln-formed pieces to large architectural installations. Jennifer’s specialist areas include kiln-formed glass, surface manipulation, and kiln-casting, but she’s equally passionate about traditional techniques like stained glass and copper foiling. For 12 years, Jennifer was Head of the Glass Department at Glyndŵr University, where she discovered that teaching glass art was almost as addictive as making it.

What sets Jennifer apart as an instructor is her genuine love for sharing knowledge. She believes that anyone can learn to work with glass beautifully – it just takes the right guidance, encouragement, and plenty of hands-on practice.

We Also Offer

Textural Abstract Landscapes – another three-hour afternoon session with the same choice of framing or bowl, this time building a deep-relief textured surface rather than working with colour.

Can’t make the date? Please email us to register your interest at jen@cheshireschoolofglass.co.uk and we can let you know when further dates are added