Peeping Into Cardinal Creation

Cardinals are both the North Carolina state bird and beautiful creatures to enjoy flying across your backyard or perching in a tree.  A cardinal plant peeper brings this wonderful red beauty to your indoor or outdoor garden all year round. Creating a cardinal plant peeper is a multi-step process and involves some surprising non-glass elements.

Let’s begin at the beginning. Once the five separate pieces for the cardinal are cut from the pattern and ground to smooth out all of the rough edges, the peeper can begin the assembly process, shown here.  The first step of assembly is to apply the black powdered frit (in the container on the upper left) around the beak.  This powdered glass is incredibly lightweight and won’t stay put as I carry the items from the workbench to the kiln, no matter how slowly and carefully I walk.  The solution?  It would seem like glue would be the answer, and it is for some things.  The - very small - issue with glue is that any glue that is not completely covered by glass will leave a dull film on the glass.  Since this black frit is not going to completely cover the red glass and the applied glue, another process is needed.  The answer is . . . hair spray.  The area where the frit is applied is sprayed, the frit is sprinkled and the glass is ready to go.  Any excess hair spray will vaporize as the temperature reaches 1395 degrees and no film residue is seen. 

The photo on the left shows the cardinals with their black beak accent, crest in place, black eye added, wing and tail arranged so that all pieces can fuse together.  They are placed in the kiln, ready for the firing, with some other items added to make a full kiln run.

Next week, the cardinal plant peeper will be completed.

If there is a particular item, color or design for an object that springs to mind and you want to know if we can create it, get in touch and we will see what we can do. Contact us by emailing here or contact us on Facebook.