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I'm trying to make a "tartan" bowl for a wedding present. After experimenting with colors,
I've cut red and greed transparent strips. I have two layers with the strip colors in different
positions, and the plan is to fuse them with one layer 90 degrees rotated to get the "weave"
look. There will be a few yellow stringers on top.

As I got ready to fuse the circle, I realized how many potentials for bubbles there are and
I wonder if the smarter way would be to tack fuse each layer separately and then orient them
and do a full fuse (with the stringers on top) before slumping.

Does that make sense? Any better approach?

Thanks,
Emily

You can do a "fake weave" by placing one strip horizontally, then the next strip vertically, then horizontally, then vertically... etc. I have done this a few times and you do not get bubbles if you are building in a single layer or on top of another layer. You would get bubbles if you tried to cap it.

Just keep in mind that your red and green will be black where they overlap. Since this is a tartan, maybe that is what you are planning.

Dana W.

This is the "fake weave". You'll notice that the last strip placed ends up not looking woven (the blue horizontal strip closest to the camera in this view).

It's not necessary to tack fuse everything if your only op intent is to avoid bubbles. After all. The tack fuse isn't a full fuse & so will leave the same bubble-causing spaces! Look up "bubble squeeze" firing schedules and try that, knowing that some bubbles are just unavoidable period! L~

misteroldhouse wrote:It's not necessary to tack fuse everything if your only op intent is to avoid bubbles. After all. The tack fuse isn't a full fuse & so will leave the same bubble-causing spaces! Look up "bubble squeeze" firing schedules and try that, knowing that some bubbles are just unavoidable period! L~

You won't get bubbles in this design -- the open spaces are on top, with plenty of room for the air to escape (in fact, it would be difficult to *try* to trap bubbles if you are using relatively narrow strips, which you would do with weaving). The only way you would get bubbles is if you tried to cap it with clear or something.

Dana