Fused glass flowers are easier than you think and pack a big punch. This tutorial is for flowers with holes drilled in them and mounted using the Flower Stems Kits, although the stem kits are not required. If you’ve found a solution you like, or are making flower design dishes, carry on!
Materials
Small glass circle (1.25-2.0″ diameter) of the same CoE as your flower glass
Sheet glass
Printed Flower Petal Patterns (at bottom of tutorial)
Glass tools; cutter, running pliers, tile nippers, marker, cutting oil, grozier pliers
Kiln
Trace Flower Petals onto glass
The easiest way to cut flower petals is in a line alternating right side up and upside down. The templates I’ve made for you are in this configuration. This makes cutting easier and saves glass.
Cutting Order
My favorite way to cut flowers is to cut around the group of petal, then cut the long sides, then the details. I’ve added color arrows showing the order I cut in.
Cutting (finally)
Cut the petal shapes using your glass tools in the order suggested. First up, the large outline
Cutting between petals
Next up are the diagonal lines between the petals.
Separate the petals
Use your running pliers to separate the petals.
Cut the Details
Last, let’s cut the details on the outside edge of the flower petals.
Clean up Details
Using your running pliers, break off cut pieces and clean up the details of your petals
Glass Pieces Cut
Once your petals are cut and you have a circle, you are ready to assemble the flower.
Test for Fit
Before we start glueing things all willy nilly, let’s check and make sure our petals all fit on the flower, shall we? This is a great idea so we can do any trimming necessary before we commit to a design.
Fit check!
And all looks great, good job everyone! You thought we were done right? Not quite yet, we need to make a space for the flower stem. If you are making a small flower bowl, you can skip right to the contour fuse step.
Assembling the Flower
If you are using a stem, let’s go. Remove all the petals from the circle and color in a dot about 4mm wide. This dot is where the hole will be drilled for the stem of the flower.
Nip the Petals to fit
Using our tile nippers, nip the sharp point of each petal off so it doesn’t cover the center of the flower.
Add Glue
Next up is to add glue to the circle to keep the petals in place until we can get it into the kiln.
Ready to Assemle (FINALLY)
Excellent, now add the petals back onto that clear circle, making sure that the center of the circle remains open of petals so when you drill it it will be easier.
Ready to Contour Fuse
And here’s the tricky(ish) part. The flower needs to be countour fused, but you’ll need to use the contour fuse schedule that is appropriate for your glass. If you have a contour fuse schedule you love, use that one, but keep in mind this is one layer of glass for the most part, don’t over do it. (I will add firing schedules for fusible glass as I perfect them)
Ready to Slump
Once your flower is contour fused, you can slump it into a flower shape on a small bowl mold. Again, use a slumping schedule appropriate to your glass type and flower thickness.
Some notes:
Once your flower is slumped, you can drill a hole in the center. I have tutorials about drilling in the library, so I won’t reproduce that process here. The tutorial for adding the flower to the stem can be found here.
The following patterns are for 5″ and 3″ 8-petal flowers. You can mix and match petal styles, stack smaller petals on top of larger ones and generally go to town. To print the files, right click and either choose “Save Image” to save to your computer and print later, or “View Image in New Tab” to show the pattern in a new window and then print from that window. These should print at proper size, but you may need to adjust your printer settings.
Questions, comments or requests can be sent through the Contact tab at the top of the page.
