FAIRYTALES SHOW 2008
PATE DE VERRE
Glass frits & powders are mixed with a bit of glue (usually a solution of gum arabic or cmc) and then carefully packed into the design elements and walls of a plaster silica mold. The glue holds the frits together during the packing process, but a core will be needed to hold everything in place once the glue has burned off during the heating phase of the firing process. If that inner core is talc, the glass frit will be just barely fused together so that the resulting piece will have a delicate sugar-like quality. Alternately, a core made of plaster silica (as part of a 2 part press mold) will press firmly against the inside of the mold during the entire firing process so that the glass can spend time in the kiln compacting to become fully fused. The resulting piece will have an opaque quality much like alabaster. Each technique yields very unique art!