My First Pattern Bar Plate

I just finished a glass class at Stained Glass Supplies in Eagle Rock, CA. It was taught by Paul Martinez. How exciting it was! We made glass pattern bars from 16 strips of glass, 1" x 12". I used two colors. These strips were stacked 8 pieces high alternating colors and then tack fused. From these two bars, we then cut 1" pieces using a tile saw, and making sure the tile sat perfectly flat, each piece was smoothed with a wet belt sander. My pattern called for 16 pieces.

The pieces were then placed within a dam 7" square that was lined with 1/8" fiber paper. There was space left between each glass piece, and then in the fuse firing, which was held for 1 hour 30 minutes at 1525 deg. F., the pieces flowed to magically fill the 7" square. After the fired piece was sanded to smooth and round its edges, it was slump fired on a mold.

Today I am firing my second piece in my own kiln at home. I have taken photos of the process and will share this procedure in another post later this week. Keeping my figures crossed! I woke up at 4:00 this morning and remembered that TODAY WAS THE DAY. Over the weekend I had cut my pieces, including strips from a kiln shelf to make the dam, cleaned the glass squares, and loaded everything in the kiln yesterday. The kiln was turned on at 4:30 this morning. It will fire for hours and hours today, and I won't be able to open it until tomorrow.

Here is a photo of the plate I brought home from my class last night. It is soooo beautiful! I love it.