Platters

June 13, 2015 – Platters

Platter-sized works of fused glass blend art with functionality.  Here are four that I’ve made in the last couple of years.  They are 11 to 12 inches square, so they’re a good size for serving fruit, cookies, crudités, or other edibles.   

This piece looks great filled with ripe strawberries.  I call it my Mother’s Day piece because I made it in early May.  The colors in the border come from thin shards of colored glass called confetti.  I’ve also added dots and frit during a tack firing for texture. 

This is one of the first pieces I made.  I love the subtle sparkle of the clear iridized glass as well as the soft gray tones.  The black and white accents give the piece more contrast.  This platter is a perfect backdrop for a colorful assortment of crudités or fruit.

I was inspired to make this piece when I found a beautiful piece of red glass.  The piece wasn’t large enough to fill the center as a square, but I solved that problem by modifying my initial idea and making the center in two parts.  The central color is so strong that I felt black and white were the best choices to complement it.  I’ve used red, white and black confetti and black frit for surface interest. 

Finally, this very colorful piece incorporates several components that I created over a period of several weeks.  At the center of the piece is a plaid square that was fused separately before being incorporated into the larger design.  Likewise, slices of a previously fused pattern bar became elements in the corners.  I added stringers, frit and additional pieces of glass to the larger piece during subsequent firings.  

All of these pieces of fused glass are washable by hand.  I would not recommend putting them in the dishwasher or microwave, however.