Project Technical Notes: Crown Tourney Assignment

We have won a bid to host the Kingdom A&S competition and Crown Tourney in May. During a feast prep inventory we discovered we need some small bowls and plates. In an effort to jazz it up a little for the eight seats at Head Table, I volunteered to make eight bowls and eight plates featuring the Midrealm pale. These are going to be promptly washed and given back to HT to keep.

Materials:

6" Blank (Bowls):
3"x7" strip of white (x2)   (I'm using an unspecified white Bullseye fusible glass, 3mm)
1.5"x7" strip of red (x1)    (I'm using an unspecified red Bullseye fusible glass, 3mm)
7" square of clear (x1)       (I'm using Bullseye Tekta clear, 3mm, double rolled)

6.5" Blank (Plates):
2.75"x7" strip of white (x2)
2"x7" strip of red (x1)
7.25" square of clear (x1)

The red and white glasses are unspecified because I bought them from my favorite storefront, and the information was not listed or recorded (and the glass quickly cut up before the number on it was noted). The clear was purchased online from Delphi, making the details better known.

Original concept art (plate):

Making the bowls

Cut with a circle cutter so that the blank ideally has proportions of 2.25", 1.5", 2.25" so that the pale (red stripe) is not quite on even footing with the white field (in heraldic terms), although that is not required. This is a common presentation, even if not strictly correct.

My starting position:

 

I use duct tape to bind the three strips together tightly, flip them over, place them into my circle cutter, and if the glass gods are kind, I end up with a circle. Remove the three pieces from the duct tape. The cuts on the red strip are so subtle I pop them easily with my running pliers. The cuts on the white stripes are much more substantial; I make perpendicular relief cuts like I would would with a solid circle and tap them out with the back end of my glass cutter. This seems to be more reliable than the idea of slowly applying pressure on either end of the cut with running pliers.

I cut a clear base using normal circle-cutting techniques. Assemble:

I use the standard "small piece" fusing schedule my kiln came preprogrammed with:

300°F/hour to 1000°F, hold 0 minutes

FULL/hour to 1350°F, hold 0 minutes

500°F/hour to 1425°F, hold 10 minutes

FULL/hour to 950°F, hold 30 minutes

The fused "blank":

I slump it using a mold from Slumpy's, using the standard "small piece" slumping schedule pre-programmed in my kiln:

300°F/hour to 1000°F, hold 0 minutes
500­°F/hour to 1280°F, hold 20 minutes
FULL/hour to 950°F, hold 30 minutes

The finished bowl:

Repeat seven more times....

Making Plates

The process is much the same as above, but the sizes of the strips are different. After cutting with the circle cutter the desired end proportions are 2.5" white, 2" red, 2.5" white (for a 7" pattern). I discovered that I mis-remembered my past measurement and my plate mold is actually 6.5" in diameter. A quick check during a holding cycle showed that the extra .25" rim didn't droop like I feared, but slumped successfully. I'm not sure if I will stick to these numbers or go ahead and make a 6.5" blank next time, but I suspect the latter, though the end result was fine.

Same fusing and slumping schedules used as for the bowls.

The completed set: