Alligator Pot Melt

I made a pot melt last year and couldn't figure out what to do with it. After returning from a recent trip from Florida, the turquoise water inspired me. I used a stainless steel ring around the original pot melt and filled it with light aquamarine transparent coarse and clear frit to create a border all the way around. After the second firing, it then went into the sandblaster to remove small bubbles and imperfections. I fired it again to get a smooth fire polish and then slumped into a bowl.  

3/8” thick by 9-3/8” diameter, 2 inches tall, weighs 38.9 oz
Here is the finished bowl. I call it up to my ears in alligators. They remind me of an alligators with their mouths open.

This is how it was made. There were 7 holes drilled in the pot. This was a clay pot that was used before to make another pot melt. So there was already some color in the bottom of the pot. I added mostly scraps of clear, white and french vanilla from another project. This is how it was set up in the kiln.

This is what the pot looked like after a long hold in the kiln. Below you can see the melt.

I cut the top off the clay pot using a tile saw because it was too tall to fit in my kiln. I used this piece from clay pot to contain the melted glass which I lined with fiber paper so it wouldn't stick to the pot. 

This is the piece turned over and I filled a stainless ring with clear and turquoise frit. By turning the piece over and firing it on fiber paper you get a nicer finish. After this was fired, I took it to the sandblaster to get off any imperfections.

This is the front of the piece before slumping into a mold

This is the back of the piece.

The finished piece.

Busy Weekend Fusing

I started this post in December but for some reason, it never posted, so here it is.
This past weekend my kiln was working overtime. I had an order for 7 fused glass snowflakes and I only had 1 done. My kiln is 14" and these snowflakes are over 5" so I can only fit 4 in the kiln at a time. Here is what they like look before and after they were fired. Mind you each snowflake has 61 pieces of glass. The main components are easy since I use a strip cutter to cut the pieces. Where it gets tricky is laying the small pieces on top, glass with such small pieces is slippery so a tiny drop of glue went on each "arm". Each one took a little over an hour to cut and assemble. The finished product looks good. I tied a ribbon around them and they are ready to hang.

So now, the next one I made I used rainbow irid. I think it turned out very nice, here is a pic.