Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Fanciful Flowers with Frit



The heat is on! Our steamy temperatures have me craving refreshing, juicy projects that quench my thirst for creativity. These tropical island-style dishes are just ripe for the occasion. Follow these easy steps and you’ll have something super cool served up in no time.  

For a 6” x 6” dish: Cut a 6” x 6” base layer out of your favorite bright color. The pieces shown are made with opal glass. Cut a 5 ½” x 5 ½” design layer out of white glass. Center the smaller white piece on top of the larger colored piece. 

Tip: Because the exposed base layer around the white glass in so narrow, only ¼” wide, the single layer won’t shrink or distort when fused. The benefit to this type of assembly, you get a lovely uniform border without the laborious task of cutting narrow ¼” strips. This approach has many possibilities. Be sure to try it again on future projects; you’ll love the results.

Glue a copy of the hibiscus flower pattern onto a piece of stiff poster board or a file folder with spray adhesive. Make a stencil by cutting the flower out with a razor knife. Make a leaf stencil in the same way. Position the stencil over the white glass and sift powder frit over the open space.
  
Tip: Less is more. An edge to edge dusting of a high contrast color powder shows best. If you pile the frit on thickly it slides when the stencil is removed. This blurs the edge and can distort the shape of the flower or leaf.   

Remove the stencil and tap any remaining frit off the stencil. Reposition the clean stencil, overlapping the first flower slightly to make a second flower. Use a different color powder. Repeat to make a third flower. Sift green powder over the leaf stencil to make the foliage.

Tip: Working with color. I like to use two colors for each flower and each leaf. Sift the lighter color first. Then accent the flower petals or leaves by sifting a contrasting color either near the tip or near the center of the stencil shape. 


For a 4” x 4” dish. The smaller dishes are made by cutting a 4” x 4” piece of color glass and a 3 ½  x 3 ½” piece of white glass. Center the white on the color and detail by sifting a powder color of your choice over the stencil.
 
Full fuse. Slump in a square mold.

Stenciling with powders is an appealing way to achieve elaborate detail, consistently over and over again with minimal effort. The time is in the prep. But once you have a solid stencil design, the delicious possibilities are bountiful. 
 
Get your FREE Hibiscus pattern here: www.LisaVogt.net

Happy Fusing!
Lisa

Lisa@LisaVogt.net
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