Carved Glass Plaques - Student Work

These pieces were made by my Ceramics I  kids and is always a fun assignment for them.  They begin by drawing their design to scale and then using that drawing as a pattern they transfer to a slab of clay about a half inch thick.  Next the trim is cut away from the outside format.  Then they let it sit slightly covered with plastic overnight (so that it dries out to a leatherhard stage) and the next day they begin carving away the areas where they will melt the glass colors (about 1/4 inch deep). After the pieces are dry I bisque fire them at cone 04 (1800 degrees) and then the students choose from many colors of glass shards that they carefully load into the carved out areas.  I glaze fire the pieces at cone 5 or roughly 2150 degrees.  This adorable cupcake was created by senior Andrea Acosta. Senior Dong Song did the striking piece below, plus Dong painted black glaze around the outside rim. 

Above senior Andy De Avila did the really cool moon/sun piece, and below senior Jesus Calderon did his niece and nephew's names to give as a wonderful gift.

The beautiful seahorse was made by junior Alyssa Olea, and the clever idea to make a frame for this assignment was done by senior Freddy Perez.

Unfortunately Freddy's piece cracked slightly probably due to stressing the clay slab when it was being rolled out.  So be careful and try to keep the clay slab horizontal, don't turn up the edges of the slab.