Here it is at long last, the reader selected kiln carving pattern! And just see if I ever let you guys pick the pattern again, this one was HARD! It is a bas-relief pattern, meaning that the pattern is raised into the glass and you look at it from the flat side (similar to the sea turtle in June).
**This kiln carving pattern has expired. Monthly kiln carving patterns expire 90 days after posting. Not to worry though, they will be back at the end of the year in the free compilation book. To see the currently available kiln carving patterns, you can click here**
1. Start by downloading and printing the kiln carving pattern using the add to cart button at the bottom of the page (no credit card required). After printing it, pin the pattern over the top of a piece of fiber paper large enough to accommodate the whole thing. I strongly recommend 1/32″ fiber paper for this, since the pattern is 4 layers thick, it could become interestingly complicated if you use thick fiber paper. This is also a pretty complicated pattern, so it may be easier to build in directly on your prepared kiln shelf, or a piece of thin-fire.
2. Carefully cut out all of the pieces with a sharp razor or scissors. Since we are keeping the outlined pieces, you can do this one with scissors. Make sure you save all of the pieces you cut out!
3. After all of the pieces are cut out, stack up the three pairs of wings, largest on the bottom, smallest on the top with the tops aligned.
4. Now stack up the 2 smaller hearts and position them between the wings.
5. Now add the flames to the top of the heart.
6. Next add the base of the crown and the large heart. The large heart will overhang the wings and the crown. Try to get it centered on the small hearts. This will help the edges of the heart curve down toward the shelf as the glass melts, giving your heart a more rounded appearance.
7. Next carefully weave the thorn pieces together so they weave over and under each other.
8. Add those to the large heart.
9. Now, get that thing into the kiln under a nice piece of glass (1/4″ float in my case), and fire it to a full fuse.
10. Ta DA! Looks brilliant! This would be an excellent candidate for kiln washing the fiber paper before firing so you can do multiples of the design.
This kiln carving pattern has expired! Please make sure you’re on the mailing list to be notified when it will be available again in the 2013 compilation book. To see the current free kiln carving patterns, visit the Kiln Carving Patterns page.