Pattern Bar Project

[BlueMoon]

I had a go at making pattern bars this week. Thought I'd post a series of pictures of the process.
First I cut strips of glass and stack in whatever pattern you like....they have to be dammed up to keep them from spreading during fusing.


Then they are taken to full fuse in the kiln...a very lengthy firing schedule due to the thickness of the bars (about 1")


Next the pattern bars are sliced into thin strips on a wet tile saw...I cut them about 3/16" thick and then finished them on a flat lap grinder to true up the surfaces.

[littlegiggles]

looks really interesting Jim... cant wait to see how it develops

[BlueMoon]

Next I use the slices of the pattern bars in the design of a plate. I  full fuse the plate and then slump on a mold. This picture is of three plates I built yesterday and fused last night. I have one of the plates back in the kiln this morning slumping. I added one other process to the one in the kiln today...I sand blasted it prior to slumping to take the high gloss off of it.  I'll post a picture of it tomorrow.

[Les]

Whhoooaaaahhhhh !!!!!!!!!!!!!

They are amazing Jim !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[BlueMoon]

Thanks...they've been quite fun to do so far. The most fun is slicing into the bars to see what cool pattterns were made. We made about a dozen bars last Monday and I have only sliced 3 of them up so far. Will keep ya'll posted on the results here.

[Les]

Cool

[Isabelle]

Way cool!!

[Paula]

I'll add another cool.Incredible stuff,I love it.

[handmadeheaven.biz]

excellent work jim i love pattern bars. on the 'to do' list! the black and white one is so effective what about bubbles between the layers? is there no chance of that due to the long schedule? cut up more - want to see!!!

[♥♥Tan♥♥]

Jim, thankyou so much for sharing this, pattern bars are so clever and its such a privilege to see them through the process

[BlueMoon]

excellent work jim i love pattern bars. on the 'to do' list! the black and white one is so effective what about bubbles between the layers? is there no chance of that due to the long schedule? cut up more - want to see!!!

Steph...not much problem with bubbles because of the short length of the strips and the long firing schedule. We did have a few bubbles where too much glue was used when building the bars.

Here's a better picture of some of the slices of the pattern bars.


And here's the finished black and white plate. I had wanted the black to stay more matt after the sandblasting but the slump firing was a bit too hot and polish fired the black back to a semi gloss finish. I'm backing down the temp on the next one to avoid that.

[Les]

That's gorgeous Jim

Les xxx

[LesleyMac]

Thats lovely Jim, its so great to see the whole process, I love these pattern bars
I really love the black and white dish as well - you are so skillful.

[littlegiggles]

Thats amazing Jim

[Paula]

great pics.Stunning