Spring Green Bowl With Dichroic Glass Horseshoe 10″

This bowl is part of our Horseshoe Collection of equestrian art glass home decor. It is 10″ in diameter.

We hope you enjoy this bright and lively art glass piece. It is sure to bring a smile to the face of all your horse loving friends when they see it.

Creating it was a 6-step process:
Selecting the Glass: Two circles of glass were cut to the size of the final project, one transparent spring green and the other clear.
Creating the Horseshoe: I used a stencil created on my laser cutter to trace the image of the horseshoe onto the center of the green glass, where the bottom of the finished bowl would be when finished. Pieces of dichroic glass were selected in a variety of colors, textures and patterns to make the horseshoe mosaic. The dichroic glass was carefully cut and glued to fit the stencil outline. When the horseshoe was complete, the green glass was placed on top of the clear glass in preparation for fusing.
Fusing in the Kiln: The two layers were placed in a kiln and heated to 1475 degrees, the temperature at which glass melts and the layers fuse together.
Shaping the Dish: At this point the piece was still flat. To create the dish shape it went back into the kiln one more time, this time on top of a mold, and was heated to 1250 degrees. At this temperature the glass softened and gravity caused it to sink into the mold and assume its final shape.
Treating the Back of the Bowl: I wanted to sandblast the outside of the bowl so it would diffuse the light softly. Alas, a sandblaster hasn’t found its way to my studio yet, so that wasn’t an option. There is, however, a spray paint that mimics the effect of sandblasting and I applied 3 coats of it to the outside of the bowl to finish the piece.