Craft Gossip

Independent craft blog since 2007

Kiln Forming – Things You Need to Know

by

Jon Firth

How do you work with glass? Are you a torch worker, making beads and little sculptures? Do you fuse or kiln form, making pendants and plates and tiles and goodies like that? Do you do stained glass? Or mosaic work? This post is going to talk about kiln forming also know as fusing and slumping. I’m sending you over to the Warm Glass web site to learn about the process and some of the situations you may encounter. Then you’re to go over to the Bullseye Glass site to see the chart on what there glass is like. These are things that are important if you want to get started playing with glass in this fashion. Or maybe you already fuse and just need a few questions answered. These are a couple of great places to get your information.

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Tropical Bird Crafts and Learning Activities

I don’t know why tropical animals feel like something you should learn about in the summer, because these tropical bird crafts and activities are great to do any time of year. Let’s take a look. 

Homeschool Giveaways has a printable tropical birds copywork book kids can use to practice cursive or print writing. They also have links to more fun printable activities, mostly about parrots, toucans and cockatoos.

Homeschool Share has a printable lapbook all about parrots. This one is a lot of fun because it includes things like the pros and cons of owning a pet parrot and some parrot jokes alongside information about where parrots live, why they have hooked beaks and their lifespan, among other things. 

Use colorful bird puzzles to reinforce number order with this free printable puzzle collection from Craft Play Learn. It includes five different bird puzzles that are each eight pieces. 

And if you want to look at toucans in particular, check out this toucan study guide aimed at elementary students from Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus. This isn’t a free resource but it’s 31 pages all about toucans, their life cycle, anatomy, what they eat, role in the rainforest ecosystem, activities and more well worth the cost. 

How about some tropical bird crafts? This 3D macaw parrot from The Craft Train is a great one, also not free but super cute and easy to make with the printables. 

I Heart Crafty Things has a super cute parrot made with cardboard and card stock. If you hang it from the ceiling it will even spin.

Or try the cute cardboard tube parrots from Kids Craft Room, which kids will love to decorate (you could even use feathers if you have some). You can also make a parrot (or whatever other tropical bird you like) from a paper plate with these instructions from Crafts on Sea.