Embracing Your Inner Kindergartener

 I've experimented with this method on a smaller scale, but on a whim I decided to try it on a larger scale. After posting this picture I had a lot of questions about it.

How DID you do that? It was messy, and messy is almost always fun. So I made another one and documented the process.

After cutting a clear piece of glass the size I wanted the finished plate to be I squirted Glassline paint on it in random patterns. Keep in mind that darker colors will be more dominate so don't use a heavy hand with them.

Yes, it looks like a condiment accident. Mustard and ketchup EVERYWHERE! Once you're happy with your color combination and coverage, take a second piece of glass, place it directly on top of this one and... wait for it... press down hard making sure to mix all the colors together.

Now separate the two pieces of glass - you may need to use a putty knife, or something else with an edge, to get it started. Remember the mess I mentioned? Set the top piece aside. You can clean it off or use it too.

This is the resulting design.

I sprinkled some sparkly mica powder liberally over the wet Glassline and allowed the whole thing to dry overnight. The next morning I placed a clear piece of glass on top and put it all in the kiln to fuse it all together.

Now we have a plate blank - but how does it get it's shape? Thanks for asking. While this was in the kiln I prepared a plate mold by painting several layers of kiln wash on the ceramic mold. Kiln wash keeps the glass from sticking to the mold.

The plate blank is placed on the mold and heated just enough for the glass to sink (slump) into the shape of the mold.

And VOILA! It's a beauiful plate!

What can you do with a texture tile?

It's fun to play with clay - it's a nice change from glass - but once you've made that awesome texture tile what do you do with it? There is a detailed blog post here if you want to create your own: Texture Tile Molds for Fused Glass Thanks Jodi McRaney Rusho and Glass With a Past! 

Since I already had some autumn leaf colored glass on hand I thought I'd start with this tile:

 

 I didn't have a final project in mind, I just started out making some leaves and let the inspiration take over... First was a gold square.

 Next came the bright red square.

 

After a fail with a green square I tried some clear glass with confetti glass spread on the tile. Then I laid it all out with a nice colorful border and clear nuggets.

Copper was the perfect color to accent my glass choices so I foiled each piece and soldered it all together. Because the texture tile pieces were pretty uneven at the edges I used a decorative soldering technique. 

Cleaned and polished and it's all ready to hang in a window. Finished size: 16.5" x 16.5"