Sunshine Square Quilted Glass Tile

About 10 years ago, Linda "Scottie" Scott was a teacher by day and a glass artist by night. From large-scale stained glass pieces for churches to small diachronic glass jewelry, Scottie never met a piece of glass she didn’t like. These days she’s creating fused glass tiles that she uses for everything from bookends to coasters to light fixtures.

Materials:

System 96 fusible glass:
- black iridescent
- clear
- opaque
- yellow
- light green
- dark green
glass stamping medium
white and black high fire glass paints
glass fire kiln
glasscutters
ruler
glass breaking tool
rubber or plastic stamp
brayer
quilt square pattern
metal "L" channel
push pins
homasote board or ceiling tile

1. Cut the bottom piece of tile out of black iridescent fusible glass in a four-inch square. Cut the top piece of the tile out of the clear fusible glass in a four-inch square (figure A).

2. Select colors (yellow, green) to be used in the quilt pattern.

3. Cut the pieces that you will be stamping to the size of the stamp (figure B).

4. Mix the high fire glass paint with the stamping medium. Mix both the white and black colors (figure C).

5. Transfer the paint to the stamp using a brayer (figure D).

6. Place the glass over the stamp and press firmly to stamp the image on the colored glass. Stamp the yellow piece of glass with black paint and green piece of glass with white paint (figures E and F).

7. Fire the pieces that have been stamped with glass paint. This is tack fired around 1300-1350 degrees F. This will melt the paint into the surface of the glass.

8. When the fired pieces are cool, cut them into perfect squares (figure G) that match the quilt design using a glasscutter, a ruler and a glass-breaking tool. Cut some of the squares in half diagonally according to the quilt design. Make sure that all burrs and flares are removed.

9. Place the quilt pattern on a piece of Homasote board, line up two pieces of "L" channel at a 90 degree angle and anchor with push pins pressed into the board. Place the glass squares and triangles on top of the quilt pattern (figure H).

10. Stack the three layers in the kiln. Make sure the kiln shelf has been coated with kiln wash. Start with the bottom layer (black iridescent, iridescent side down); arrange all the pieces making up the quilt pattern on top of the bottom layer. Place the clear cover sheet over the design. You have created a three-layer stack of glass (figure I).

11. Fire the tile to a full fuse.

Make beautiful coasters or bookends with these Sunshine Square quilted glass tiles.

E-mail: sscottie@swbell.net

Website: www.ourglassgarden.com