BLUE SHABBAT

clear hebrew letters coated with aventurine blue frit

My latest project is a new challah tray. I cut out the hebrew letters that spell shabbat (shin, bet, tav,) cleaned and dried them, then flipped them over. I coated the back of the glass with Glastac; a clear "glue" that lightly tacks things in place. I sifted the powdered glass over the letters and am literally waiting for the glue to dry!

When the letters are dry I will set them up on the glass tray I've prepared and will fuse them together. The clear glass will act as a cap and allow the aventurine blue to take on a "floating" quality.

The tray will be in the kiln for approximately 15 hours as it slowly heats up to 1425° and then cools down to room temperature. A quick cleaning and then the glass will return to the kiln to be slumped into a mold.

Aventurine makes an appearance as blue or green in the glass world. It has a sparkling quality to it. Aventurine Blue is the color of indigo. I'll post the final product at the end of the week. I'll also try sifting the powder into my next set of Torah Yads. It will be interesting to see how it reacts with the other bits of glass I've been collecting!