Another Test Piece

Here is another example of my work with a fused ceramic decal added to the glass. I will add a video clip soon of how to apply the waterslide decals (or Transfers) to glass, when I have edited it. This one was fused and slumped (or sagged as named in the US)into a mould in one go in the kiln. It was taken up to 720C. The decal was quite pale compared to the original image which was initially a drawing of Arabic style text drawn by myself/ It was scanned into my Mac and manipulated slightly in Photoshop. The resulting image was then emailed to a company in Stoke-on-Trent, who the produced the decal.

I have been informed by the makers that the colours 'mature' with firing. To that end I have put some of the test pieces back in the kiln tonight for re-firing. Will report back the results!


I will post a photo of my horse next, as remembered to take my camera with me this evening, and he had been out without a rug on as it was a beautiful spring day at last it was warm.

And this is his new best friend Plum!

What a Beautiful Day

Sorry but today being Sunday, I had to suspend the constant thinking about my work and do something away from computers!

Rode my horse out through peaceful lanes lined with daffodils and whats left of the snowdrops.

Afternoon went to Mothercombe Beach with Zig, my dog, it was the first time he has been there, but not the last. You can understand why the movie people pick it as a location, it is so gorgeous, especially on a day like this. The last photo I could not resist posting, I love what the tide does to sand.

Ceramic Decals Finally Arrived

Well they (the Decals/transfers whatever one wants to call them) arrived this morning. Admittedly I was disappointed when I first saw them, the colours are not as good as I had hoped, but firing could change it all. Anyway they have been applied to small rectangles of glass and placed in the kiln for firing at 750c with a 10min soak. We will see what happens next. Everything crossed that it works well.

Here's a few photos of them in the kiln :-)

Here's One I Made Earlier

This was a test where I cut out Arabic letters from the Ceramic Decal Paper, applied to float glass, then kiln fused around 750 C with added glass pieces. I will post the finished piece when I have photographed it. The colours look brighter in this picture than they were in reality.

Still waiting for Ceramic Decals.

I spoke to the company producing Ceramic decals from my Photoshop files yesterday, paid for the two A3's ordered. They said they would be posted out yesterday, but had not arrived this morning. I am hopeful it will arrive tomorrow as I really need to crack on with this, and I really am hopeful the idea will work. Otherwise its back to the drawing board or the Mac.

I had a kiln booked at college in anticipation of the decals being with me, but as they were not I cut up some Bullseye glass and assembled a small piece and also cut up some previously fired ceramic decals. They were produced via the Lazer cutter at college  a couple of weeks ago. I had some black and white arabic text in an Illustrator file which is then loaded into the lazer cutter and assigned commands (i.e. engrave, cut-through etc).  The Ceramic Decal paper is placed on the lazer cutter bed and once the position is set on the key pad off it goes burning its way through. The end result was arabic lettering as a waterslide decal, which was fused onto float glass. The problem with the ceramic decal paper basically is the colours (the ones I used anyway) are very dull. I am interested to see if the resulting fused glass, now cut-up and placed in two layer pieces, will change colour as it fuses overnight in the kiln. Will see all tomorrow!

The Beautiful Mosque at Isfahan

These beautiful works of art I find inspirational. The use of colour is absolutely stunning, and the skill of the tile makers who created this is wonderful. Considering the techniques and materials available at the time, it is breathtaking how they created such beauty.