Fulfilling an Inspiration



A Touch of Spring - Pate de Vere Glass Bowl

 I am excited to find new ways to create my art and I was so pleased with this first attempt with of making my own mold to use.  Using clay to create my mold, I shaped the bowl and then carved out magnolias and butterflies on the sides. The next step was to fire the clay.  When the mold was finished, I had to be sure to coat it well with kiln wash to be sure the bowl would come out after firing.  I made the pate de vere bowl by filling in the flowers and butterflies carved into the bowl with pure colors of frit. Then, using a glass frit mixture the substance of paste, I filled the bowl shape of the mold, smoothing it out over the flowers and butterflies on the sides.  I finished the top edge as you would  pie crust to even and smooth it.  After firing came the challenge!  When I tried to get the bowl out of the mold, it didn't come out!  OH, NO!!!

After deciding it was worth losing the mold to see if I could save the bowl, a trip to Home Depot was the next step to buy attachments for the Dremmel tool for a bit that would cut the mold in half to to get the bowl - hopefully in one piece!  I was so excited that when the bowl came out before the mold was completely gone so that I will be able to use the mold again.

View of the Outside of the Bowl

View of the Inside of the Bowl.

<>