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Yesterday my kiln went crazy, but I safely annealed the piece inside. It's a prototype for a set of dishes. The buyer wants plain black... but why come to me for that? So I made this sample, which is about 8" diameter & slumped thru a drop ring resting on strips of 1/8" fiber instead of furniture. Dropped to a kilnwashed shelf. The design is frit/powder pattern bars... sliced & bookended.
These are scans, not photos. The glare's pretty bad. The front has a clear cap. None of that fingerprint-ish stuff is on the actual item, or at least it's not visible to the eye. However, there is a dulled ring around the bottom edge of the slump. Don't know if it's from the extra glass buildup in the edge, or spending way too much time going up & down in the anneal as I wrangled my wild controller. Also, the dang thing weighs too much for an 8-inch plate. To thin it down, I could a) use a piece of thin as the clear cap, and/or b) figure out how to slice the pattern bars thinner than 1/4" w/out breaking them. (I figured that using clear on top would protect the design part, as well as give it a bit o' depth.) All tips & advice welcome.
Thanks,
Barbara

Very beautiful. I like the effect you get with the PBs. It has a marble look.

Tell me more about how you made the PBs, please.

You could also use clear frit as a cap if you want. That might change the effect though.

The Hobbyist..............................Jim

Thanks, Jim. Glad you like it.
I love PBs. It's like playing in the sandbox for me. making the object out of them later is often only Grade B level fun relative to making and slicing open the PBs. I like making them in all sorts of shapes & depths too. I made this PB as an 8.5" square. (I'd made small PBs (triangle) with a similar technique.) To expand it, I simply built it layer by layer interspersing the black with Fr. Vanilla & red powders & frits (All BE & Uroboros 90). The first fuse was higher than a normal process temp with a long soak.

Question for you... am I correct that at least a thin cap is important if it's for a plate that will be used?
Barbara

I'm not sure that a cap is necessary at all. Are you concerned with scratches or toxicity?

I would guess that the clear would show scratches worse than the patterned surface. I don't know anything about the toxicity question. Except I thought all the BE glass (Spectrum too) were safe for food use unless you painted on them.

The Hobbyist................................Jim

Scratching. I'll try one w/out the clear. THX, Jim.
Barbara

I really like the effect of the PB, gives it just a touch of color but adds a great deal of interest. Very nice.

Melodie

Thanks, Melodie. Glad you like it.
Barbara

Welcome,

If scratches are a big concern how about doing a somewhat matted finish like Tony does on his black edges? Don’t know what you would call it … maybe a semi-gloss. Haha

He blast and then brings it back up just enough to get a gorgeous finish. To me it almost looks like leather. I’m sure he has a picture on his web site if you are interested.

Melodie

I don't think I would find it appealing to eat off of a plate that had a matte finish to it. But that's all a matter of taste.

Barbara, did your client like the color on her black plate?

Barbara

Melodie wrote:Welcome,

If scratches are a big concern how about doing a somewhat matted finish like Tony does on his black edges? Don’t know what you would call it … maybe a semi-gloss. Haha

He blast and then brings it back up just enough to get a gorgeous finish. To me it almost looks like leather. I’m sure he has a picture on his web site if you are interested.

Melodie

Barbara makes a point about eating off a matte finish plate... You wouldn't be able to "clean your plate" at least at the table. It is a tough surface though, and doesn't show fingerprints.

Tony

Hi Tony, Melodie & Barbara...
I love the matte finish. Not sure it'd be appropriate for this person, tho. If I didn't have to ship the prototype, I might have made her a couple of selections to choose from. THough that's way over the line of duty. I'll probably do that anyway... and it's so much fun playing with this stuff.

So, I'm postiing it today... we'll see what happens.

BB

you can make a matte finish, and then sandblast and firepolish designs into the finish, which gives you both a shiny and matte finish. here's an example i just did:



it's hard to see in the picture, but the image in the center flows into the matte finish on the edges.

although, i'd think it hard to keep a matte finish clean. you might have to take it just a little bit on the cool side of a firepolish to make this problem be lessened. it would take experimentation with exact temps to determine where that point is exactly in your kiln. this one was 15 minutes at 1225.

Nice piece, Charlie...I like the way the extra masking, blasting, polishing unites all the design elements. I'm very partial to unity.
Barbara

thanks. it does take a bunch more operations to do this though.

fuse face down
flip, re-fuse
mask edges and blast center
fire polish
mask center and blast edges
fire polish to matte finish temp
slump

Barbara, I have a few pieces that I've blasted and then let fire polish in a slupm of 1200F. The finish is glossed, but since there is a bit of a tooth to the surface it is more matte in appearance than a high gloss. It cleans up nicely since it isn't powdery textured matte, just matte in appearance. Doesn't show fingerprints, and would probably mask scratches too.

I did a fun service for eight with each and every piece being different. It was made up of a charger, dinner, salad plates and bowls. It made for a festive and eclectic table with only the fact that the pieces were glass and the same forms being common. It was really fun and turned out fabulous. The downside is that with use they have scratched up a bit. The client doesn't mind though since in her view it gives them a history and are more dear to her as a result. Best client I ever had!

If you want a high gloss, you could use SuperSpray. It's simply ground clear glass in a solution of alcohol and a surfactant. That way you get the high gloss, a thin cap of clear and no added thickness or weight.

Just some thoughts for you.

Charlie,

That piece is absolutely stunning. The contrast of the blue next to the gold irridized seems to draw you into the center of the piece.

I really like the contrast of the part matte/ part glossy finish on yours and Tony’s piece.

Melodie

Thanks, Cynthia... I'd love to see pix of that eclectic set of table ware! I love that way of "matching" items. it's more like a theme uniting them... the theme being, let's say, HEXAGONS. OR OVAL. & everything else idiosyncratic.

I like your thinking about how the less-than-shiny surface might mask scratches. I'm gonna try it. As for sprays... I use Borax. But rarely.

As soon as my kiln's behaving properly again.. I'll be back in the studio trying these ideas.

What would I do without ya'll?

Barbara