Like most people who live in snowy climates, spring always makes me think of the beach with longing. Since I actually live in a landlocked state, it’s not like I can just run down to the beach for the afternoon. I can, however, make a fancy starfish dish with a nifty free kiln carving pattern.
Step 1.
Download the pattern from the online store. No credit card is necessary, simply add to cart, proceed to checkout and you’ll get a download link after check out. There are a few other free patterns there that you may want to check out if you haven’t already.
Step 2.
Print the pattern, preferably on card-stock, then cut out and remove the gray areas of the pattern and make a re-useable stencil.
Step 3.
Pin the pattern onto a piece of fiber paper, make sure you use a cut proof surface. I’m using a sheet of cardboard and 1/32″ fiber paper from Delphi Glass. Thicker paper will result in a more pronounced pattern.
Pinned fiber paper
Step 4.
Carefully cut out the fiber paper through the stencil. I prefer a snap off razor blade cutter because the fiber paper makes your razor dull very quickly and it’s nice to have a new one always available.
Cut fiber paper through stencil
Completely cut out kiln carving pattern
Step 5.
Once you have the fiber paper all cut, put it on a prepared kiln shelf and put a piece of glass over it. I’m using half of a champagne bottle that I flattened (mostly) into a sheet. Champagne bottles are quite thick so I only need one layer.
kiln carving pattern with champagne glass
Step 6.
Fire to a full fuse using the full fuse for 1/4″ recycled glass schedule.
fused champagne bottle starfish
Step 7.
Slump into a dish mold (we’ll do this in a later post) or drill and hang as a suncatcher. This would also be a terrific pattern for tile in a bathroom or backsplash.
fused bottle glass starfish