Grozing (or groze) is the action taken to break small pieces of glass from your glass fusing projects in order to trim them.
This is considered a cold working process.
This it done in a chipping fashion, so that only tiny bits of glass are removed from your piece.
You never want to leave rough or unsightly edges on your art pieces, as this would detract from the design.
These pliers contain serrated jaws that make it easy to grip the surplus glass, which you need to remove from your project.
The pliers are useful in place of a grinder when only a small amount of glass needs to be taken from the project.
Some of the pliers are made to help break glass, as well as to groze glass.
One jaw is typically more rounded than the other jaw.
Make sure to use the right pliers for the job at hand.
This way, you will more easily accomplish the task you set out to do.
How to Groze
It is fairly easy to groze.
First, you need to have one hand on the glass to keep it from moving.
Then place the serrated edge of the pliers on the edge of your glass and start removing the desired small pieces.
Make sure you are gripping the pliers correctly.
You want complete control of the pliers.
The best way to grip the pliers is the wrap your index finger around one of the handles.
Then use the other fingers and the thumb to control the action to open and close the pliers.
This way, you will not apply too much pressure on the glass.
A lot of pressure is not needed to groze glass correctly.
Hold the grozers pliers with the curved jaw on the bottom, and the flat top of the pliers lined up with the score line.
When the glass has been previously scored, hold the grozing pliers in one hand and the glass in the other (if possible), simply pull straight out.
Rolling or pulling down will chip the glass.
When trying to clean up an edge of glass that has not been scored, use a rolling action done by gently rolling your wrist after grabbing onto the glass.
Once the unwanted glass is removed, you can take the curved jaw and roll it over the edge to smooth the glass.
Learn to Cut Accurately
You can eliminate the need for Grozing or grinding glass, when you learn to cut the pieces accurately.
Practice on scrap glass to hone your measuring and cutting skills.
As you get better at these things, you will see that you will spend less time touching your projects up through the techniques mentioned here.
There are many things that go into creating Glass Fusing projects.
It all starts with how you cut your piece of glass though, perfecting this stage will help you accomplish the other stages of processing your creation into a finished project.
Knowing the proper way to groze glass as important as knowing how to fire the glass correctly.
Sure grinders have taken the place of using Grozing pliers for many people, but you may not always have a grinder handy when you need to trim off unwanted glass.
Isn't it nice there is a process you can learn to accomplish this without the grinder?
Learn how to groze glass today the right way, if you do not already know how.
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